RENTON — Bruce Irvin says he wants to stay, and he said he’s willing to take less money to do it.
The Seattle Seahawks’ starter at strong-side linebacker talked about his impending free agency Monday as the Seahawks cleared out their locker room at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center. And Irvin said he’d be willing to take less money in order to re-sign with the Seahawks.
Irvin, who just completed his fourth season after being Seattle’s first-round pick in the 2012 draft, said he was asked that very question by Seahawks general manager John Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll.
“If it came to that, I would definitely come back,” Irvin said. “Three, four, five million (less in the total contract), I would definitely come back because I’m established here. These are my brothers. I honestly can’t even imagine myself playing with anybody else, being in a different meeting room, listening to different pregame speeches, it’s just crazy to me. I would definitely come back. If they matched or if it was a little less, I would definitely come back to Seattle.
“I want to be here,” Irvin added. “That’s what it is. I understand the business side of it. If I happen to be somewhere else, I will always have a genuine appreciation for John and Pete for sticking their neck out there and taking me when everybody said I was a reach and had a lot of baggage that came with me.”
The Seahawks already have the core of their team signed for the 2016 season. That group includes all seven of the team’s Pro Bowlers: quarterback Russell Wilson, cornerback Richard Sherman, safeties Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas, linebacker Bobby Wagner, defensive end Michael Bennett and returner/receiver Tyler Lockett.
However, 31 players had their contracts come to an end with Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC divisional playoffs.
The most significant of those are the six starters who are now unrestricted free agents and therefore free to sign with any team. Those starters are Irvin, defensive tackles Brandon Mebane and Ahtyba Rubin, tackle Russell Okung, guard J.R. Sweezy and receiver Jermaine Kearse.
Also among the unrestricted free agents are cornerback Jeremy Lane, who alternated at right cornerback opposite Richard Sherman later in the season, as well as punter Jon Ryan.
Carroll wouldn’t discuss the team’s plans for specific free agents. However, he made it clear he’d like them back.
“I’m not going to go into any of the guys specifically,” Carroll said. “In general, I’ll tell you that the guys that have been with us and have helped us become the team we’ve become, we want them back. We like our team. We like our guys, how they contribute, how they fit in, the depth that we have of knowing and understanding they can help us out.”
Re-signing those free agents will be a trickier proposition for the Seahawks this offseason. That’s because the contract extensions signed by the likes of Wilson and Sherman take their full effect starting with the 2016 salary cap. Wilson will have a salary-cap hit of more than $18 million, while Sherman’s will be more than $14 million. Wilson alone will hit the cap more than $11 million higher than he did this season.
Therefore, even with reports that the salary cap could increase by as much as $10 million next season, it will be that much more difficult for Seattle to compete for its own free agents, who will likely have a greater value on the open market.
“It’s going to be an interesting process, a process I have not dealt with,” Kearse said.
“I grew up in the state of Washington, so playing in front of my family and friends and the hometown, it meant a lot to me just to be able to have that type of support system behind me,” Kearse added. “I definitely enjoyed it. I would love to play here, but unfortunately there’s a business side to this league, and those have their own ways. So you just have to wait for the whole process to happen and assess the situation.”
Teams can’t sign free agents until March 15, so for now it’s a waiting game for Seattle’s free agents.
“Right now I’ll finish out what I need to finish out, have the conversations I need to have, and moving forward I’ll have the conversations I need to have as well,” said Okung, who is acting as his own agent. “However they go is how they go. I think soon I’ll have a really good understanding of what’s happening.
“Seattle will always be a home to me,” Okung added. “It’s been amazing what the community has been able to do for me, and the people. It will always be a place that I’ll come back to.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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