Bruce Irvin 'like a kid the night before Christmas' waiting for Detroit Lions debut
Bruce Irvin still can’t figure out why, in a league desperate for pass rushers, his phone stayed mostly quiet last offseason.
Irvin, 36 but coming off a 4½-sack season with the Seattle Seahawks (including the playoffs), didn’t get an offer in the first wave of NFL free agency and had only tepid interest from a handful of teams before signing to the Detroit Lions' practice squad in November.
“You would think I was a cancer or something,” Irvin told the Free Press this week. “I just don’t know, bro. I played good in the playoff game. I just knew I was going to get at least a workout. Nothing.”
The No. 15 overall pick by the Seahawks in 2012, Irvin said the Jacksonville Jaguars called this fall and wanted to sign him to the practice squad, but wouldn’t guarantee they’d elevate him to play in games. The Minnesota Vikings reached out about a workout, too, but Irvin declined.
Then in early November, when the Lions and Irvin’s old high school teammate, linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard, called and told him they needed pass rush help, Irvin knew “it was just the right situation for me.”
“They got some good stuff going on here, man,” Irvin said. “And my homie’s a coach, Kelvin Sheppard’s the position coach. So there was a lot that went into it.”
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Irvin is set to make his Lions debut Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, and the team desperately needs his edge presence after going sack-less in three of its past five games.
The Lions (8-3) rank 26th in the league in sack percentage and have gotten little production from their edge rushers outside of Aidan Hutchinson (5½ sacks). Julian Okwara, Charles Harris, Romeo Okwara, John Cominsky and Josh Paschal have a combined 4½ sacks this season.
Irvin, who missed most of the 2020-21 seasons with an ACL injury, has 55½ career sacks.
“He’s a craftsman,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “He does have a quick first step, but he’s really good with his hands. His hands and his hips. He can bend. And so that’s been developed over time and that’s a little bit like riding a bike when you’re somebody like him.”
Irvin said he’s confident he can contribute down the stretch to a defense that has struggled since the bye. The Lions have given up 26 or more points in each of their past three games, and had two sacks in November.
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“I’m different, bro,” he said. “Thirty-six is just a number. I move like I’m 25. Once that whistle blows, I promise you they’re not going to be thinking about, ‘Oh, he’s 36 years old.’”
Sheppard, who played one season with Irvin at Stone Mountain (Ga.) Stephenson High and considers him “somebody that’s truly a close, dear friend from growing up,” said Irvin’s biggest contributions this season may come off the field.
Irvin won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks in his second season in 2013, and has 4½ sacks in 12 career playoff games. Romeo Okwara is the Lions’ only other edge rusher who has made the postseason, playing in one game with the New York Giants in 2016.
“He’s now brought in that championship mentality,” Sheppard said. “This is the only way to do things. It’s not, on this day we’re going to raise it and then, ‘Oh, my body’s hurt.’ That’s the only way to do it every day and I think that’s something he’s been on top of these guys.”
Irvin, who signed with the Lions on Nov. 14, said it was difficult not playing the past two weeks.
He said he expects to be active Sunday, and trusts the Lions did the right thing bringing him along slowly so he could get in game shape and continue to have a role in January.
“Like a kid the night before Christmas,” he said. “I’m just enjoying the process, man. Love playing football. At this point in my career I done made all my money so it’s about just love for the game. So I’m just blessed to have an opportunity to go out here and continue my career and be able to help this city.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bruce Irvin ready to make Detroit Lions debut, help ailing pass rush
