In January, Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin said that he was open to taking less money to remain with the Seahawks than he might get on the open market.
With a few days to go before Irvin can officially find out what other teams will be willing to pay him, nothing has changed about that willingness. During an appearance on “Justin and Gee” on 710 ESPN, Irvin reiterated how strong his feelings are about the organization that took him in the first round of the 2012 draft and how staying there would be worth leaving some money on the table.
“I mean, I love Seattle, and I want to spend the rest of my career there. Like I always say, those guys took a chance on me when everybody wasn’t even thinking about me. I probably would have went second, third round ... ,” Irvin said. “So those guys will always have a place in my heart, a special place. So like I said, man, if the money was close, I would definitely consider it because the brotherhood I have with those guys, it’s like no other. I’m as close to most of those guys as I am with my real brothers, so leaving those guys would be very hard on me, but not only me, my family also.”
Getting the money close may be too much of a challenge for the Seahawks to meet. They have around $23 million in cap space right now, far less than teams that may be interested in Irvin’s services. One of those teams is believed to be the Jaguars, who have nearly $90 million to spend and a serious need to upgrade their defense. Irvin ranks behind only Broncos defensive end Malik Jackson among untagged players on PFT’s list of the top 100 free agents, which likely means the Jaguars won’t be the only team willing to throw some money in his direction next week and should only make it harder for the Seahawks to retain their man.