RENTON, Wash. — As the NFL calendar turned from the offseason into training camp and then into the regular season, Bruce Irvin kept looking at his phone and seeing nothing.
"No calls," Irvin said. "You would have thought my phone was on do not disturb. It was very depressing."
Then, a couple weeks ago, Irvin decided he was getting close to moving on.
"Truth be told, I was driving an hour to work out every day, and I would drive an hour back," said Irvin, who lives outside his native Atlanta with his wife and three children but would travel into the city to work out with a few other friends also trying to get back into the NFL. "I told my wife, 'This is getting old. I'm going to give it three more weeks and I'm going to hang it up.' "
A couple days later, his phone finally rang with a familiar number on the other end — the Seattle Seahawks.
That call led to a workout with Seattle earlier this week, and on Wednesday, Irvin joined the Seahawks for the third time, signing to Seattle's practice squad.
"To come back 11 years later, being the oldest guy on the team is really crazy," he said. "I'm just happy that I never burned any bridges. I kept a great relationship with these guys, and they gave me an opportunity."
Irvin was Seattle's first-round pick in 2012 and a member of the Super Bowl teams of 2013 and 2014. He left after the 2015 season and spent time with the Raiders, Atlanta and Carolina before re-signing with Seattle in 2020. An ACL injury in Week 2 — and a botched first surgery that required a second — led to him not getting cleared until November 2021. Irvin played six games with the Bears.
But once the 2021 season ended, Irvin heard nothing but silence until the Seahawks called.
Irvin is now 34 and won't be expected to be a starter, with the Seahawks instead hoping he can fill some snaps in the rotation at outside linebacker while also providing some guidance to some of the team's younger defenders — as Irvin noted, none of the linebackers who play regularly are older than 25.
"I don't think there is any doubt that he will have some influence," coach Pete 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. We will see. I'm not asking him to come out here and give speeches and stuff like that. As long as he breaks them down every once in a while, we will be in good shape. He will have an effect. He's been around enough, he cares a tremendous amount about excellence, the style of play, and playing tough, so he will have a good effect."
Being part mentor, part player is just fine with Irvin.
"I'm here for whatever," Irvin said. "If you need me to give a speech every game, be the rah-rah guy or carry the speaker out or the 12 Man flag, I'll do it. I'm just here to help any way I can."
But Irvin, who was often called the most athletic player on the team by coaches and teammates during his first tenure with the Seahawks — he'd often jump over garbage cans at practice just to reinforce the point — insists he hasn't lost a step.
"I feel like I'm 25," he said. "You see me move yet? Wait 'til you see me move. (You'll say,) 'This dude ain't 34.' "
It took a lot of work to get back to that following the knee injury against New England in 2020.
Irvin said an initial surgery to repair the right ACL with a piece of his right patella didn't work. So he had to have a second surgery using the patella in his left knee to finally fix it.
"Ended up getting surgeries on both knees for one injury," Irvin said, saying that the surgeries and a longer-than-hoped-for recovery "kind of put me in a dark place."
But he said he was intent all along on playing again.
He had seven tackles in six games with the Bears last season — where he played in the same defense now being implemented by new defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt — and said "I didn't want to go out like that."
But, as the days, weeks and months dragged on with no interest, he was increasingly resigned that it might be time to move on.
"I'm at a point where I don't need football," said Irvin, who according to OvertheCap.com has made more than $48 million in his career. "I've won a Super Bowl, I've played well, I have my money, and I took care of my money, so for me, it's just proving that I can still play. If I couldn't move and felt like I couldn't play at a high level, I wouldn't be here wasting your time."
He could get his chance to show he can still play at that high level as soon as Sunday against Arizona, with Carroll saying that Irvin could be elevated off the practice squad to help fill out the linebacker rotation. His familiarity with the defense means he shouldn't need much time to be ready.
"Thank God that Pete and them reached out to me," Irvin said. "I packed a big ol' bag and my wife was like, 'Why are you packing your bag so big?' I said, 'Baby, I'm not coming back.' It worked out and I'm here with y'all."
