The Raiders re-signed David Irving last week and if all goes as planned, the 27 year-old defensive lineman will be a big part of a Raiders defensive line that desperately needs to improve from a pass-rushing standpoint.
Irving somewhat surprisingly returned to the NFL in 2020 and was mostly underwhelming in his short time with the Raiders. But is sounds like there might be more to his story.
“After being elevated from the practice squad for the Raiders’ Oct. 25 game against the Buccaneers but ultimately being inactive for the game, Irving was sidelined for two weeks after Raiders doctors found what they thought was a heart issue,” The Athletic‘s Vic Tafur reported on Monday. “Sources said it turned out to be nothing, and Irving returned to the field for two games before injuring his knee and then being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list on Dec. 22.”
Basically, everything that could have gone wrong for Irving in 2020, did go wrong.
Moving forward, the Raiders hope they can catch lightning in a bottle with one or more of their defensive restoration projects. Irving, Tak McKinley, and Vic Beasley have all faded in their relatively young careers for different reasons. Many teams had given up on them, but it’s worth noting that not many teams around the league need pass rushers quite like the Raiders.
Now let’s see if new Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley can resurrect the Raider defense… as well as the careers of a few once-promising defensive linemen.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I be wishing anda hoping! It’s like Fouts Chargers,score 30 give up 31. All we need is a little better defence, like the super bowl Brady wasn’t the MVP”THE DEFENCE WAS!”
We need pass rushers bad