RENTON — Bruce Irvin told you he was ultra-motivated.
It took just one and half training-camp practices for the Seattle Seahawks’ energetic linebacker to spark on the Virginia Mason Athletic Center field. Saturday, the 2012 first-round draft choice entering the final year of his rookie deal and left tackle Russell Okung, Seattle’s 2010 top pick, went at each other’s throats with late jabs well after the play ended three times near the end of team drills.
Coaches and teammates had to separate them. Irvin kept woofing at Okung, who is two inches taller and nearly 70 pounds heavier and didn’t back down. At one point, Irvin broke in and tackled surprised ball carrier Rod Smith around the legs in the backfield, a no-no in these no-contact practices.
Finally, defensive line coach Dwaine Board pulled Irvin behind the huddle and talked to him.
Fifteen minutes after practice ended, Okung was his normal, soft-spoken self, talking about master’s degrees. Irvin was holding kids in his arms and smiling for fans.
Irvin has made no secret of his anger over the Seahawks choosing in May not to pick up his contract option for 2016. It would have paid him $7.8 million. Coach Pete Carroll has said the team hopes to re-sign Irvin to a multi-year deal — left unsaid: at an annual rate that is more cap-friendly than $7.8 million — and that Irvin knows that.
Yet Irvin also knows the business of the NFL. At least now he does, after the option payday that never will be.
“I feel that really put a chip on my shoulder that I go out here and handle my business,” Irvin said in June.
Okung is also entering the final year of his contract. It is paying him $4.8 million this year with a $7.28 million charge against Seattle’s salary cap. He talked after practice Saturday about his recent decision to represent himself in contract negotiations after this season.
“Yeah, I’m not the agents’ best friend right now,” he said, chuckling.
“I am doing this to be memorable. I want people to remember that the Seahawks won the Super Bowl (for the 2013 season) — and I did this to take the reins of my life.”
Okung spent time this offseason taking classes toward a degree in the University of Miami’s masters of business administration program for artists and athletes. He said he wants to parlay that into an eventual career in investing of some kind.
On the field
— When Marshawn Lynch is ending carries and catches so far in camp, he’s giving a confetti-like toss of the ball in the open field while the play is still going on. For a guy who prides himself on rarely fumbling, it’s a noticeable preseason twist. Then again, he’ll likely get next-to-no carries in the exhibition games again this month.
— Brandon Mebane alternated with Jordan Hill as the first-team defensive tackle in team drills. Mebane is coming off a torn hamstring and turned 30 this offseason.
“Thirty years old ain’t old,” he said, adding he feels like he’s “25 or 24,” that he’s great physically.
He said now it’s a mental challenge to get back all the way. He’s considered himself 100-percent healed since April.
Mebane could be a target for contract renegotiation or worse before camp is over, given the Seahawks are trying to get holdout safety Kam Chancellor into camp and re-sign All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner for perhaps $10 million a year, with just over $4 million left under their 2015 salary cap. Mebane has a cap number of $5.7 million in this final year of his contract.
— Jimmy Graham keeps catching everything. No one on the roster has proven able to leap high enough to keep the ball from the 6-foot-7 monster tight end who is moving around to every receiving position.
— Drew Nowak is still prominent with the starting offense at center, splitting time with Lemuel Jeanpierre again. Line coach Tom Cable is giving Nowak, a college defensive tackle and a practice-squad guard for Seattle last season, a long look to replace Max Unger this season.
— Edge pass rusher Cassius Marsh sped around tackle Jesse Davis many times into the backfield on pass rushes. It’s a good sign for the high-motor Marsh, whose rookie season last year ended 31/2 months early because of a broken foot.
— Tarvaris Jackson threw deep ball after deep ball on target. Two were for scores to lunging, tumbling Kevin Smith, the former Washington Husky. Douglas McNeill also caught three long balls by pulling away from defenders — though on a couple of those plays the defense would have had a sack were it a game.
— R.J. Archer, the third-string quarterback, has been throwing behind receivers many times.
— Running back Robert Turbin, who sat out practice Friday, got some plays Saturday.
— Former Kansas State defensive back Ty Zimmerman is on the roster, taking Chancellor’s place. Chancellor is on the reserve/did-not-report list.
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