Pete Carroll’s Comments About Bruce Irvin Likely Damage Control

Update:

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll downplayed the comments made by LB Bruce Irvin earlier in the week about wanting to play for the Falcons next year while speaking to reporters.

According to Carroll, Irvin was misquoted and was instead referring to returning to Atlanta, which happens to be his home city.

Samuel Logan of BlackSportsOnline.com, who was the one asked Irvin about his future, refutes the notion that Irvin was misquoted.

“At no time did I ask Irvin “Do you want to come back home?”, and more importantly, Irvin never said to me that “Everybody likes to come back home. It’s a dream to come back home,” Logan writes.

Logan says that he asked Irvin two very specific questions:

1. Where do you want to be when your contract is up?
2. Will money play a factor in your decision?

Logan offers a good breakdown of the situation involving Irvin and believes Carroll’s comments are ultimately the Seahawks doing some damage control on their player’s behalf.

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Seahawks HC Pete Carroll was recently asked about the quotes from Bruce Irvin in which he said he was planning to play in Atlanta next year.

According to Carroll, Irvin was misquoted and was instead saying he was looking forward to coming back to his home town.

“I’m really glad you asked me that, because he didn’t say that,” Carroll said. “We’ve been talking all along, he’s been working out in Atlanta for three weeks, and he said in response to the question ‘Do you want to come back home?’ He said: ‘Everybody likes to come back home, it’s a dream to come back home.’ It wasn’t in reference to leaving us and coming back, so he was really adamant about it, and I asked him so let’s leave it and not go at it anymore. I’m glad you brought it up.

“We’ve seen at the Seahawks just in this last year a number of things being written or stated about players,” Carroll continued. “What they’re doing, what they’re thinking, and they’re being misrepresented in those situations. It was wonderful to see our guys respond, because they respond vehemently. They don’t want to be positioned like that, they don’t want to look like that… it doesn’t have to be a reporter at a network, anybody can put those messages out, and they have a life to them. Our guys are getting better at understanding that, and Bruce has learned again from this lesson.”

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Seahawks OLB Bruce Irvin tells Black Sports Online that he plans on playing for the Falcons next season.

“I’m going to be in Atlanta next season. I’m ready,” said Irvin after Wednesday’s Atlanta Hawks game when asked about where he wants to play next year.

Irvin was asked about the possibility of the Seahawks offering him a big-money deal.

“Atlanta is where I want to be. Believe that,” Irvin responded.

The Seahawks ultimately declined Irvin’s fifth-year option, which means he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after this year.

A few weeks ago, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that there was talk circulating around the league that the Seahawks could trade Irvin to the Falcons, so this isn’t the first time he’s been connected to Atlanta.

Irvin could reunite with his former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and offer the Falcons another pass-rushing option.

Irvin, 27, has one year remaining on his four-year, $9.342 million rookie contract and will make a base salary of $1,663,935 for the 2015 season.

In 2014, Irvin appeared in 15 games for the Seahawks and recorded 36 tackles, six sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and three pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 11 outside linebacker in a 4-3 system out of 40 qualifying players.