DavidSeven":2echdz06 said:
I like Irvin as much as the next guy but the hype surrounding his free agency has baffled me.
He's grown. A lot. But he was probably our 11th most important defensive starter in 2013 and 2014. This dude was outplayed by Malcom Smith and O'Brien Schoefield in our championship run. If you're going to sign him to a crazy deal based on upside, you cannot also keep KJ Wright and Bobby Wagner. What are we doing sinking so many resources into the most fungible position group on the team?
We had a #1 defense with the ghost of Leroy Hill as a starting LB, for goodness sakes.
I thought he really stepped things up the past two seasons. He might be our best cover linebacker, he's easily our best pass rush linebacker, and while he's not quite as good in open space doing routine linebacker stuff as Wagner and Wright are, he's closed the gap considerably. He's also pretty good at fighting through bodies to get to the ball.
I thought KJ Wright really stepped up his game last year and solidified himself as one of the best 4-3 OLBs in the game, but to me he is more like Leroy Hill than Irvin is. I feel like Seattle could replace Wright's skillset with another 4th round LB if they had to, but with Irvin, to get a comparable physical talent you'd pretty much have to blow a 1st rounder.
I've recently been studying the very best 1st round LBs this year, guys that will probably not last to #26. Resources aside, just simply looking at them as players, I don't think I would take any of them over Irvin. If Seattle wants their SAM LB to have special physical talent and versatility then it seems that such a goal would require substantial investment, either in money or a high draft pick.
Initially, I had the same opinion as pretty much everyone else in here. Irvin was worth maybe $5-6m APY, that Seattle could replace him easily, etc. But having seen how badly teams exploited guys like KPL last year, as well as how hard it is to replace Irvin's skillset in the draft, I came to realize that I had been underestimating his rarity and value.
I'm not saying that Seattle HAS to keep Irvin for absurd money, only saying that if they do, I'll 100% understand why they did it.