Seahawks should give Bruce Irvin chance to prove himself
The Oakland Raiders continued their fire sale by cutting team captain Bruce Irvin. There’s no better place for him to prove his worth than the Seahawks.
Just before the trade deadline, we said former Seahawks star Bruce Irvin would be a solid addition to the team. At the time it was said that Irvin would be available for essentially nothing. You can take the “essentially” qualifier away now, as the Raiders released their team captain.
Technically, the Raiders can’t release Irvin until Monday, but he’s gone. Before I get to how Irvin could be a huge benefit to the Seahawks, a word about the madness down in Oakland. Chucky continues to gut the team today to clear the decks for his players in the future. About Irvin, the Oakland head saboteur/coach had this to say, as quoted by Ryan Wilson in his piece for cbssports.com:
"“We’re a 4-3 team now, so in the base defense sometimes he doesn’t fit the role we need done,” he said, per NBC Sports Bay Area’s Scott Bair. “He’s an edge rusher, and we haven’t had the lead a lot. … His role has been reduced. I know he’s frustrated. I’m frustrated. … He’s a good player.”"
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To some extent, I get it. Irvin has six tackles in six starts, and there’s no way to say that’s good. Unless you add that three of those were for losses, and Irvin had three sacks as well. For some context, the entire Raiders defense has seven sacks. Irvin also has one pass defense to his credit. The entire team has three.
So sure, I can see how a team no longer has any use for a player who accounted for 43 percent of the team’s sacks and 33 percent of all passes defended. So your team captain led in sacks, was tied for second in tackles for loss, tied for first in passes defended, and second in quarterback hits with four. You’re right, Chucky, he really needed to be cut.
I hope the Seahawks swoop in – yes, that was deliberate – and have Irvin in camp at 1:01 pm Pacific Monday. K.J. Wright is back, but he isn’t 100 percent yet. Dion Jordan is back, but he’s only been on the field for 97 snaps, and odds are he’ll miss more time. Linebacker Mychal Kendricks will be able to rejoin the Seahawks for the Vikings game after his suspension was defined by the league. That’s great news, but in the meantime, we could sure use a Bruce Irvin reunion. Almost as much as Irvin could use it himself.