Enemy Reaction Special Edition: The Seahawks draft Bruce Irvin

When the 2010 Seattle Seahawks finished 7-9, they won the NFC West and made it to the NFC Divisional Round. The 2011 Seahawks also finished 7-9, but finished third in the division and wound up at #12 (heh heh ... 12!) in the 2012 NFL Draft order.

On draft day, Seattle traded first-round picks with Philadelphia, with the Eagles using Seattle’s pick to draft Fletcher Cox, while the Seahawks chose ... Bruce Irvin? Who? Wha?!! In the first?! The NFL.com draft projection had him going in the third! What the hell are Pete Carroll and John Schneider doing?

Does anyone remember how much WalterFootball SKEWERED the “inept” Seahawks for choosing Irvin?

One such inept franchise is Seattle. What the hell is Pete Carroll doing? James Carpenter was a horrific reach at No. 25 last year, but Bruce Irvin was a billion times worse. He's just an athlete playing football, and he can only do one thing on the field. Plus, he was arrested for robbery earlier in his life and recently was arrested again for ruining public property. There's no way he should have gone in the top four rounds. Check out my 2012 NFL Draft Grades because I gave Seattle the worst grade in the history of this Web site.

Irvin recorded eight sacks in his rookie season before being switched to outside linebacker, where he proved to be extremely effective in coverage while still maintaining his incredible abilities to rush off the edge. Bruce is with the Raiders now, but he certainly was a major contributor to Seattle’s defensive dynasty.

We’ve done Enemy Reactions on the Seahawks drafting Russell Wilson and Earl Thomas, but what about for one of the (at the time) biggest surprise choices of the Carroll/Schneider era? Let’s have some more nostalgic fun.

Once again, we begin with how Field Gulls reacted. There was varied interest in David DeCastro, Melvin Ingram, Chandler Jones, but nary a mention of Irvin until it was revealed that he was Seattle-bound.

As for our NFC West rivals, they laughed.

San Francisco 49ers (Niners Nation)

St. Louis-turned-Los Angeles 7-9ers (Turf Show Times)

You know, speaking of surprises...

Arizona Cardinals (Revenge of the Birds)

At least JoeCB1991 had good foresight!

Much to my disappointment, there wasn’t much gold coming from Silver and Black Pride about their future free agent signing, but at least this sets the tone for fans saying the word “reach” a lot.

While we’re on the subject of reach, look at Irvin reach up to get this ball!

As mentioned earlier, the Eagles snagged Fletcher Cox, but what did Bleeding Green Nation think about trading down to get Bruce Irvin? Well many of them didn’t know who he was.

The Green Bay Packers (Acme Packing Company) went with Nick Perry towards the end of round 1, but while they waited for their turn, reaction to Seattle’s pick was a mix of confusion and indifference.

Here’s a random player sacking Aaron Rodgers twice in the first quarter of a Monday Night Football game.

Meanwhile, over at Blogging the Boys, pay attention to “foyesboys” not joining the crowd in mocking the Seahawks.

No one can make a good argument that Irvin is a better pass rusher than Chandler Jones (who was selected only six picks later) but he was a damn good one. Irvin’s first career half-sack was against the Cowboys.

If you want a real laugh, check out the last comment in the second screenshot from the Hogs Haven thread.

Quinton Coples (more on him later) and Shea McLellin, but you take Irvin? Well yeah, Irvin actually gets after the quarterback and is good at football...

Speaking of McLellin, the Chicago Bears chose him at pick 19 (and wow was their draft extremely terrible, apart from Alshon Jeffery, who is now with the Eagles). Windy City Gridiron didn’t really respond to the Irvin pick in droves, but this little quip did get a retrospective chuckle out of me.

We can’t do an Enemy Reaction without checking in on our friends at Cat Scratch Reader. They’re probably extremely familiar with Irvin by now, making him no longer an “awful pick.”

Irvin has a whopping eight sacks (one with the Raiders, seven with the Seahawks) in six games against the Panthers (playoffs included). When it comes to playing Cam Newton and needing crucial sacks in the fourth quarter, Irvin is as good a closer as Mariano Rivera.

Finally we head to Gang Green Nation. The New York Jets were scheduled to pick right after the Seahawks, so fan had a clear interest in making sure Seattle didn’t choose anybody they wanted. By going with Irvin, they knew they were in good shape...

...But Coples wasn’t wanted by the GGN community, having been burned by the disastrous Vernon Gholston selection back in 2008. Guess what? They got Coples, and he’s now out of the NFL.

In a different world, the Jets could’ve had Irvin playing in Rex Ryan’s defense, instead of Bruce sporting a Seahawks jersey and owning Mark Sanchez.

I wasn’t really that upset about losing Irvin when he signed with the Raiders, but in the two seasons since his departure, I wish Seattle had him back. Oh well, at least he’ll soon be reunited with Marshawn Lynch in Oakland.

That concludes this special NFL Draft series of Enemy Reaction, but be on the lookout for more flashback pieces throughout the offseason. You know, I never did do an Enemy Reaction for Fail Mary...(hint hint)