Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin has managed to turn himself into a pretty good player.
Despite a couple of iffy seasons to start his NFL career, Irvin seemed to turn something of a corner last year, managed to take his boom-or-bust game to more of a well-rounded, consistent place.
In light of the increased production, it would seem fair to assume that the Seahawks want to keep Irvin around for the long haul. According to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, even after declining the 2016 option year on Irvin's contract, the Seahawks brass would like to resign the enigmatic talent after his current deal runs its course.
Unfortunately, Irvin may not see the end of that deal with the Seahawks.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Seahawks may be looking to deal Irvin and the Atlanta Falcons, who just so happen to employ Irvin's former defensive coordinator in Seattle, Dan Quinn, as their head coach and also just so happen to be searching desperately for pass-rush help, could be the ideal landing spot and a potential trade partner.
"Per a league source, chatter already has emerged regarding a possible trade that would send linebacker Bruce Irvin to the Falcons, reuniting him with coach Dan Quinn, the former defensive coordinator in Seattle," Florio reports.
"Irvin, who was born in Atlanta, was a first-round pick of the Seahawks in 2012 - the same year they added linebacker Bobby Wagner in round two and quarterback Russell Wilson in round three."
The fact that Irvin was born in Atlanta only serves to make the fit seemingly more perfect.
The 27-year-old Irvin played the eighth-most snaps for the vaunted Seattle defense last year en route to nabbing 37 tackles, 6.5 sacks, one forced fumble and two interceptions. While he doesn't appear from the outside to be a key component to their success - especially considering the other major names peppering the Seahawks unit - that's a lot of snaps and a fair amount of production to replace.
Still, if Seattle GM John Schneider can get a good price out of the Falcons and Quinn, he could be hard-pressed not to make the deal.
