Bruce Irvin Leaving Panthers For Chargers Or Rams?
Is Bruce Irvin leaving the Panthers for the Chargers or Rams? If his social media is to believed, the answer is yes.
It is no secret that Carolina is in the midst of a reset of sorts.
Head coach Ron Rivera was fired midway through last season and replaced with Baylor’s Matt Rhule. Rhule brought in his own coaching staff, including former LSU offensive guru Joe Brady as offensive coordinator.
Linebacker Luke Kuechly retired. Tight end Greg Olsen was given the boot and ultimately landed with the Seattle Seahawks. Quarterback Cam Newton will be traded as soon as he gets healthy.
The Panthers are going through a lot of changes, and it sounds like one more may be on the horizon.
On Thursday, Irvin sent out a tweet that had many Panther faithful scratching their heads.
“Think I’m about to move to LA,” he tweeted out on social media.
Think I’m bout to move to la
— Bruce Irvin (@BIrvin_WVU11) February 21, 2020
This past season, Irvin recorded 8.5 sacks. That total was good for second best on the team behind Mario Addison, who amassed 9.5 sacks.
By any objective measure, Irvin is one of the team’s better players and absolutely essential to the defensive unit.
Last year, the linebacker signed a one-year deal worth $4 million. Based on his performance over the course of the season, clearly he will be looking for a raise.
Heading into the offseason, Carolina has about $32 million in cap space to work with and $15.6 million tied up in dead cap. That is not a ton. Currently, the Panthers are ranked 21st in the league in available cap space.
That will make working out deals with available players like Irvin difficult.
If Irvin does depart, it will be interesting to see where he ultimately lands. Did his reference to LA mean anything?
On its face, it sounds like he is contemplating joining either the Chargers or Rams. But again, that is just guessing based off one tweet.
While both of those organizations could obviously use someone with Irvin’s skillset, they also have some limitations as it pertains to salary cap and positional availability.
Where will Irvin ultimately land? Free agency commences in a little less than a month, so we should get our answer sooner rather than later.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
