Linebacker Bruce Irvin
After the third day of practice of Training Camp 2016 for the Raiders, recently-acquired linebacker Bruce Irvin had a chance to meet with the media and spoke about a variety of things. The former Seattle Seahawk comes into Raiders training camp feeling confident and comfortable with his surroundings.
Here are the quick hits from Irvin's time with the media:
Irvin has high expectations for himself, as well as the team.
"You could say that, coming in from another team. I've been in the league for five years now. I've been to two Super Bowls, so I've got a pretty nice deal. So, there's always expectations. I've always had expectations for myself. I'm just continuing to work hard every day and go out there and do what I do."
He believes that if you don't make the job fun it can be strenuous.
"I try to get these guys to try to have fun with it because there's plenty of people out here who would love to be in this position and you have to make the best of the situation in this short time and opportunity that we get to play football."
Inside linebacker Ben Heeney has impressed a lot of people going into his second season, including Irvin.
"Ben Heeney is a dog. Like you said, he's not the biggest guy, but he plays bigger than what he is. The guy leaves it out there for me. It's just practice, so I can only image what he does for me in a game. He's a team guy. That's the biggest thing, having a bunch of team guys who are willing to leave it out there for each other. I can already tell Ben is one of those guys."
He looks forward to wreaking havoc on defense alongside defensive end Khalil Mack.
"Khalil is great guy. The biggest thing about him, when a guy has had as much success as he's had in the first two years of his career, some guys seem to not take advice or seem to not work hard, but he comes to work every day. He takes advice from me. I take advice from him. I've said it before and I'll continue to say it, I really think this was meant to be, to be teamed up with him. We're going to continue to push each other each and every day and we're going to really make it happen this year."
Overall, Irvin thinks this is the best-case scenario for him and his family. "Absolutely. Ken Norton, Jr. was here, that played a big factor in me deciding to come here, and we run pretty much the same scheme. They're going to use me more going forward. They're going to use my skill set more than Seattle did. Like I said, I've been put in a great situation and I think I made the best decision for me, my wife and my son, and we're happy to be here."
