Getty Images

Last week, Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin made some headlines when he told BlackSportsOnline.com that he’s “going to be in Atlanta next season” and that the city is “where I want to be.”

Irvin’s contract with the Seahawks is up after the 2015 season after the Seahawks opted not to exercise their option for 2016 (which Irvin didn’t appreciate), a decision that came after chatter about a possible trade that would send Irvin to Atlanta to play for former Seahawks defensive coordinator and current Falcons coach Dan Quinn. Plenty of people took those developments and added them to Irvin’s comments to draw a line to Irvin signing with the Falcons as a free agent, but Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said that was the wrong interpretation.

“I’m really glad you asked me that, because he didn’t say that,” Carroll said, via the Associated Press. “We’ve been talking all along. He has been working out in Atlanta for these three weeks, and he said [that] in response to the question ‘Do you want to come back home?’ He said everybody likes to come back home, and it’s a dream to come back home. It wasn’t in reference to leaving us and coming back [to the Falcons]. He was really adamant about it, and I asked him to leave it and not go at it anymore.”

It’s not hard to understand why Irvin might not want to give the impression he’s already looking past this season with the Seahawks to a move to another team, especially in a conversation with his current team’s head coach. Whatever his plans for 2016, Irvin is going to have to play well for the Seahawks this year in order to land the kind of contract he wants and that means it is best to keep thoughts on the present until there’s actually a reason to contemplate a move to Atlanta or anywhere else.