Seahawks Bolster Gunner Competition, Acquire Irv Charles From Jets
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New York Jets wide receiver Irvin Charles (19) attempts to catch a pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the third quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images [/caption]
Orchestrating a rare late May trade, the Seattle Seahawks have added another viable contender to the mix to help replace departed receiver Dareke Young as one of the team’s primary gunners covering punts on special teams.
According to Zach Rosenblatt of the Athletic, Seattle has agreed to send a conditional 2028 seventh round pick to the New York Jets for veteran receiver Irvin Charles. The team officially announced the trade on their official website with undrafted rookie Trayvon Rudolph waived to create a roster spot in a corresponding move.
Highly recruited out of high school, Charles began his collegiate career at Penn State, playing two seasons for the Nittany Lions before transferring to Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2018. He didn’t play football for the next three seasons, returning to the gridiron as a graduate student in 2021 and catching 39 passes for 792 yards and 12 touchdowns, using that successful comeback audition at the Division II level to climb back onto the NFL radar.
Though he went undrafted, Charles signed a three-year deal with the Jets, spending his entire first year on the league as a member of the practice squad. He broke through in 2023, appearing in 12 games while recording seven tackles on special teams, emerging as a quality gunner on the punt coverage unit. He continued to star in the third phase of the game in 2024, tallying seven tackles and a blocked punt before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in Week 14.
That unfortunate injury happening late in the season wound up costing Charles all of the 2025 campaign, as he opened the season on the reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list and the team never activated him to return to action. With the trade officially going through on Wednesday, however, the Seahawks must have felt good about his current medical situation by passing his physical.
Recently turning 29 in April, Irvin has yet to be a factor at all as a receiver in the NFL, totaling two targets with no receptions since entering the league in 2022. It has been almost five full years since he caught a pass in a regular season game and given the amount of talent and depth Seattle has in the receiving corps, it seems highly unlikely his contributions in that aspect will have any bearing on whether or not he can stick around on the 53-man roster.
But at 6-4, 220 pounds, Charles has plus size for the position that he utilizes extremely well on special teams, rallying to the football as a productive finisher bringing down kick and punt returners in space while also benefiting from elite length that has allowed him to extend his arms and block multiple punts dating back to his time at college level. His previous impact as a special teamer created the incentive for general manager John Schneider to make the trade for a player who will only cost $1.075 million against the salary cap in 2026.
Of course, coming off of a severe knee injury that has prevented him from playing in a game since December 2024, Irvin will be joining his new team as anything but a lock to earn a roster spot. Even with his prior track record of excelling on punt coverage, he will have plenty of competition to beat out in the race to replace Young, who signed with the Raiders in March, starting with sixth round pick Emmanuel Henderson Jr. and returning second-year wideout Ricky White III.
Despite not playing much on offense in three years at Alabama, Henderson avoided a redshirt in Tuscaloosa because of his value on kick and punt coverage, quickly becoming a favorite of former coach Nick Saban. Seeking an opportunity to show what he could do as a pass catcher, he transferred to Kansas for his final year of eligibility, finishing in the top 15 in the nation in yards per reception and catches on passes traveling more than 20 yards through the air (11) while adding a kick return for a touchdown and continuing to dominate as a gunner covering punts.
As for White, the ex-UNLV star has previously thrived in the return game, including returning a kick for a touchdown as a senior for the Runnin Rebels. He also earned a reputation as the best punt blocking weapon in college football, generating four blocks in his final year on campus to lead the nation. If he can prove himself on coverage units, he has a chance to vault up the depth chart and make Seattle’s final roster after spending all of his rookie year on the practice squad.
Without a ton of noteworthy competitions due to the continuity on the roster with the majority of the members of last year’s Super Bowl squad returning, the addition of Charles only should spice up the battle to fill Young’s spot on special teams. Assuming he’s fully recovered more than a year after tearing his ACL, he will be aiming to prove he can get back on the Pro Bowl trajectory that he appeared to be on in New York before the injury, and if he can do that, dealing a future seventh round pick for him could wind up being a shrewd move.
And if Charles doesn’t pan out and fails to make the Seahawks’ final roster, Schneider can move on from him and not risk losing a conditional pick that would be returned to them, making it a win/win situation for the organization.
