ALAMEDA – Edge rusher Bruce Irvin occupied the same spot in the Raiders locker room during the entirety of his two-and-a-half seasons here. He sat right along southern edge.
Irvin was the alpha dog in a pack of them, in charge of that wing even when Khalil Mack was here. Irvin was a popular dude, and vocal presence inside the locker room and on the field.
Even though he wasn’t producing at the same level as previous seasons and had largely been phased out of the defensive game plan, Irvin will still be missed after the Raiders waived him on Saturday.
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His absence will hit Arden Key the hardest.
“Bruce was my guy. He was my mentor,” the rookie edge rusher said. “I came in here expecting to see Bruce. I took a lot of things from him. One important thing was that, on Sundays, I just have to go out and be myself. Coaches will help throughout the week, but in games you have to play instinctive and do what you do. Believe in what you do, and do it 100 miles per hour.”
Irvin is the latest in a line of veterans to leave the team. Khalil Mack got traded. Amari Cooper did, too. Then Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie retired before Thursday’s blowout loss to the 49ers. Several, including Irvin, were being seriously shopped before the NFL trade deadline.
The distractions have been steady, making life a bit harder on the Raiders still in the locker room.
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“Each week it seems like there’s something new we have to get over, an adverse situation,” veteran defensive end and captain Frostee Rucker said. “That’s part of pro sports. That’s part of life. We have to adapt. New guys have to step up. The key to our whole season, is about the next man up.”
The Raiders have rotated several players into their lineup when established veterans have left or gotten hurt, forcing others to fills huge voids.
“I learned a lot of pass-rush moves from him, but he’s gone but we have to get the next man ready,” defensive tackle Maurice Hurst said. “We have to go play this week and the rest of the season. We don’t want to let [Irvin’s departure] distract us from anything.”