Bruce Irvin on Kam Chancellor’s holdout: ‘We need Kam, but Kam deserves his money’

At the end of July, Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin Tweeted "Get yo money Bam Bam!" in support of teammate Kam Chancellor's holdout. With the start of the regular season approaching and with Chancellor still absent from Seattle's secondary, Irvin's resolve is starting to fade.

BY ERIC MANDEL

Sep 1, 2015, 3:36 PM Updated: 3:40 pm

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At the end of July, Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin Tweeted “Get yo money Bam Bam!” in support of teammate Kam Chancellor’s holdout. With the start of the regular season approaching and with Chancellor still absent from Seattle’s secondary, Irvin’s resolve is starting to fade.

He told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Brock and Salk” on Tuesday that his take on the situation has changed “a little bit, I ain’t gonna lie. We need Kam. We need Kam, but Kam deserves his money. I’m not being biased, but he’s the best strong safety in this game. He’s a difference maker, he sets the tone not only for our defense but our team.

“Whatever his situation is, I hope it gets handled. But just know, we need him.”

The Seahawks’ Sept. 13 opener at St. Louis is less than two weeks away, which means it appears more and more likely each day that Chancellor will miss at least Seattle’s first game. When asked whether he thinks it would be “selfish” of Chancellor to continue his holdout into the regular season, Irvin wouldn’t take the bait.

“I feel like it’s how you look at it,” Irvin said. “In his shoes, he put his body through a lot of stuff. He feels as if he should be the highest paid safety, as he should. Some people look at it as, you sign the contract and you should respect that and play it out. I think it just depends on how you look at it.”

Irvin added: “I honestly don’t know, because I think he deserves his money, but I also feel like we need him and he should be here.”