Bruce Irvin back to Seahawks for 3rd time, to kick a so-far awful defense in the rear end

The Seahawks need a veteran linebacker. They need a leader in the locker room. They need a Super Bowl champion who has the cache for teammates to listen, and respond.

This defense needs responses.

It’s allowing more yards rushing, more yards total, than anyone in the NFL. Seattle has surrendered 84 points and 958 yards the last two games. Its linebackers aren’t setting the edge. They aren’t holding the edge. They have no edge.

They are getting blocked. They are guessing, wrongly. They aren’t in the right fits.

Truth is, the Seahawks need a new veteran persona to kick teammates in the butt.

That’s what Bruce Irvin has returned to Seattle to do.

“He told me that was very big,” Irvin said of Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

Irvin, about to turn 35, said that before his second practice of his third go-round with Seattle Thursday. The Seahawks have signed him — summoned him, really — to save their defense as much in the locker room as on the field.

Thursday, Irvin talked from the same main-auditorium podium where coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider introduced him as the Seahawks’ first-round draft choice in 2012.

“It’s crazy because the last time that I was at this mic, I was 24 years old standing on this stage,” he said. “To come back 11 years later, being the oldest guy on the team is really crazy.

“I’m just happy that I never burned any bridges, I kept a great relationship with these guys, and they gave me an opportunity.”

He was last with the Seahawks for the 2020 season. Two games into it, he had the first major injury of his 11-year career. A torn knee ligament ended his Seattle comeback season after just two games.

He said Thursday the surgeon “botched my knee” in the reconstructive surgery. He needed a second surgery as 2020 became ‘21. He had his patella tendon from his left knee put in to rebuild his right one.

He wasn’t cleared to play until last November. He played six games with Chicago to end last season. His defensive coordinator with the Bears was Sean Desai, now the top defensive assistant coach for the Seahawks. Irvin knows the 3-4 scheme coach Pete Carroll, new defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt and Desai have installed this season in Seattle, better than almost all Seahawks do. He played it last season for Desai in Chicago.

“Damn near the same,” he said.

He says the key to the system is defenders communicating the flipping of sides and responsibilities just before the snap, depending on the offense’s formation. That’s something the Seahawks so far this season have not done well, among many other things.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that he will have some influence,” Carroll said.

“I’m really glad to have him back, I’ve always loved Bruce and what he brings, how hard he plays, how much he cares, his intensity, and all of that.”

For Hurtt, personal accountability among his players is paramount.

The coach now has a player to enforce that.

Hurtt says what makes Irvin unique, even at and especially going on 35, is “his passion.”

“Even though he might be in his 30’s and has played a lot of football, you can never tell,” said Hurtt, Seattle’s line coach when Irvin last played for the team.

“He loves the game. He loves to joke and have fun with his teammates.

“But at the other side of it, they see how serious he is about his craft, too. So that is a huge plus.”

Bruce Irvin, Dad

The Bears left Irvin unsigned this winter into spring following his only season with them. He remained unsigned as summer became fall.

The boy who grew up homeless for a time and in jail as a teen, who said in 2015 after playing in consecutive Super Bowls for Seattle said “Lord knows I was supposed to be in jail or dead somewhere,” was in Atlanta. He was being a husband and a dad as NFL training camps then season began this summer.

“I was home. You know, taking care of kids. Poopy diapers,” he said. “Just going out, staying ready.”

That included daily drives one hour each way from his home he and his family have in the far Atlanta suburbs into the city to train.

Last week Irvin told his wife, former University of Charleston tennis player Alyssa Hackworth-Irvin, he was weeks away from ending the drives and training. He was tired of waiting for a call from an NFL team that wasn’t coming.

“You would have thought my phone was on Do Not Disturb,” he said. “It was very depressing.

“I had told my wife, ‘Man, this is getting old.’ I said, I’m going to give it three more weeks, and I’m going to hang it up.

“Three days later, my agents reached out to me and said Seattle had contacted them about wanting me to come out here and work out.”

He impressed Carroll and the Seahawks with that workout, on Monday. Tuesday, the signed him to a contract for the rest of the season.

It’s technically for the practice squad. For now. It won’t be long before he’s on the active roster playing to improve the NFL’s last-ranked defense. It’s been threatening to subvert the wondrous play of quarterback Geno Smith (Irvin’s college teammate at West Virginia), a soaring offense and Seattle’s season.

Carroll has had Irvin in the back of his mind all season. Now after letting Bobby Wagner go, trading Russell Wilson and declining to bring back K.J. Wright before this season, Irvin is the only veteran of past Seahawks Super Bowl teams left in the locker room.

It’s a product of the relationship the 71-year-old coach prides himself on keeping with players when they leave Seattle.

“Those kinds of conversations never stop. I get texts like, ‘I still got it, I’m ready,’ from a number of guys,” Carroll said.

“He’s always been in our conversations. Seriously, we called him this last week to check out what’s going on and if he’s available. He’s been working really hard. He’s in terrific shape, and had a great workout (Monday). It was an impressive workout.”

Irvin knew he’d impress the Seahawks into signing him. He knew they need him.

They need anybody who can play defense.

“I packed a big ol’ bag,” he said. “And my wife was like, ‘Why you packing your bag so big?’”

Her husband’s reply: “Baby, I ain’t coming back.”

Irvin ready play right away

Carroll said he’s “open to” Irvin playing right away. That’s Sunday when the Seahawks (2-3) host the NFC West-rival Arizona Cardinals (2-3) at Lumen Field.

Irvin didn’t leave his family back in Georgia to idle on the practice squad during game days. He would have stayed watching Seahawks games on his couch in Georgia, which he’s been doing each weekend for the last month.

He’s here again to make fellow linebacker Darrell Taylor, Jordyn Brooks and Cody Barton better than they’ve been. To teach rookie linebacker Boye Mafe. To, yes, kick some guys in the rear end, at times.

And to tackle running backs and sack quarterbacks better than the Seahawks have been doing.

“I feel like I am 25. Have you seen me move yet? Wait until you see me move,” Irvin said. “(You’ll say) ‘This dude isn’t 34.’

“I feel good, my body feels good. My mental is good, and I can’t complain. I get to live out my dream at 34 and a half, I’m about to be 35 in three weeks. ...

“When Pete brought me here, he just said, ‘Just be you.’ I have a ton of experience in this league. I played in 140 games, so I have a lot of knowledge not only on the field, but off of the field.

“I have three kids and a family, so I know how to deal with the family asking for money, girls jumping in your DMs. Like, I’ve dealt with everything. I have the experience of everything, and I’m a book. I’m willing to share everything, on top of contributing on the field.

“I will do what I have to do to make the defense better.”