Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Raiders will be signing OLB Bruce Irvin to a contract once free agency opens on Wednesday.
- Tom Pelissero reports that the Raiders have signed Irvin to a four-year, $37M deal with $12.5M paid out in the first year.
Oakland apparently came out of nowhere to sign him, as recent reports had mentioned teams like the Cardinals, Falcons and Jaguars as potential suitors.
Irvin was widely considered to be one of the best pass-rushers in this year’s free agent class, which left him in a great position to cash in on a big-money contract. He was linked to almost every team in need of pass-rush help, so it will be interesting to see what kind of money he gets.
Irvin, 28, is a former first round pick of the Seahawks back in 2012. He played out the final season of his rookie contract after the Seahawks elected not to pick up his fifth-year option last year.
In 2015, Irvin appeared in 15 games and recorded 38 tackles, 5.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and two pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 15 linebacker in a 4-3 defense out of 35 qualifying players.
We had listed in our Top 100 – 2016 Free Agents list.
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If this is true and Raiders are able to re-sign Aldon Smith, it won’t even matter if Hayden starts because he’ll only have to cover for about 3-5 seconds. Throw in a possible MEJr push and this could actually be the start of something great. Plus the chances are the Raiders can get a pretty solid D lineman either in the first or second round with the talent in this draft.