Is Bruce Irvin’s replacement already in the building?

Bruce Irvin is off to play for the Oakland Raiders, but don’t count out Frank Clark when looking for the eventual replacement. 

The news broke late Tuesday that Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin was headed to Oakland. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that about an hour later Frank Clark posted this to twitter:

Clark was 272 pounds at the start of last season. The Seahawks clearly wanted him to slim down and become faster. At his new weight, he’s only an edge rusher. He won’t be sliding inside to DT anymore like he did last season.

And that means that Clark will be taking over Irvin’s role as the edge rusher opposite Avril in obvious passing situations. He’s already got an amazing first step and great strength, with just a little bit more speed he’ll be unstoppable coming off the edge.

Of course, Clark isn’t going to be running with TEs in coverage. That isn’t who he is, and the team doesn’t need or want him to become that. Clark will be replacing the part of Irvin that rushed the QB. He won’t be spending a lot of time at linebacker.

An additional advantage to Clark becoming a more traditional defensive end is that it opens the door for the Seahawks to draft another DE/DT hybrid again this year. This particular draft class is stocked with them, but there isn’t room on the roster for three of those players.

The most interesting part of this is that the Seahawks no longer need to find an every-down LB to replace Irvin. Clark has Irvin’s role in the nickel taken care of. All they need to find is someone can play SAM in the base defense.

Keep an eye on Eric Pinkins for that particular job.