Shea McClellin could give Seahawks an option for replacing Bruce Irvin

In the midst of the news about Seattle’s offensive line today also came a report from ESPN that the Seahawks are hosting former Boise State star and Chicago Bears linebacker Shea McClellin for a visit.

An unrestricted free agent, McClellin was the 19th pick in the 2012 draft, four spots after the Seahawks took Bruce Irvin, and he could now be in line to replace Irvin.

McClellin has played a variety of linebacker/rush end roles in his football career and with Irvin now gone to the Raiders, it would make sense that the Seahawks would view him as potentially replacing Irvin.

The 6-3, 260-pound McClellin has 7.5 sacks in his career and was second on the Bears with 81 tackles last season playing inside linebacker. But given Irvin’s departure, Seattle would likely be looking at him outside.

This ESPN story from February included this analysis of McClellin’s play from Bears general manager Ryan Pace:

I thought he did well in making that adjustment [from defensive end/outside linebacker to inside linebacker]. He’s kind of moved all around throughout his career. I think he settled into a natural position for him. The things you like about him are his range, his size. I think he got more and more comfortable as the season wore on. He had to battle injuries, too, which we got to evaluate and assess and we’ll talk about it going forward. But there are some positive things about him and I think you have to take into account he’s still growing at that position.

Seattle also earlier had Cleveland linebacker Craig Robertson in for a visit. But he left without signing and has since also visited the Saints.