David Irving (American football)

David Irving (born August 18, 1993) is an American football defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa State University.

Irving grew up in Compton, California, but moved to San Jacinto as a youth and attended San Jacinto High School, where he played defensive tackle and tight end as a senior, recording 76 tackles (15 for loss), 7 sacks, 5 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 19 receptions for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns.

He accepted a scholarship from Iowa State University. He became a starter after switching from defensive end to defensive tackle as a junior, while posting 8 starts, 19 tackles (4.5 for loss) and 2 sacks. He missed the entire 2014 season after being dismissed from the team following an incident at the VEISHEA festival. He finished his college career with 32 games (8 starts), 44 tackles (7.5 for loss), 3 sacks, one forced fumble, one interception returned for a touchdown, 8 passes defensed and 3 blocked kicks.

Kansas City Chiefs

Irving was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs after the 2015 NFL Draft. He was waived on September 5 and signed to the practice squad.

Dallas Cowboys

On September 29, 2015, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys from the Chiefs practice squad, to replace a released Davon Coleman. He was used as a backup defensive tackle and had 14 quarterback pressures (sixth on the team) in limited opportunities. He blocked a field goal in the seventh game of the season against the Seattle Seahawks. He suffered a left wrist fracture in the fifteenth game against the Buffalo Bills and was placed on the injured reserve list on December 30.

On October 16, 2016, in a 30-16 win against the Green Bay Packers Irving was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week when he forced three fumbles, recovering one, had a sack, and batted down a pass. Irving played only 19 snaps in the game.

He was ejected from a game against the Cleveland Browns on November 6, 2016.

In the second half of the week 15 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Irving had two tackles, one and a half sacks, a pass defended and a play where he hit Jameis Winston's arm just as he was releasing a pass that ended up intercepted. Irving's play led to Tampa Bay personnel and coverage changes that created openings for other Cowboys players, and rookie Maliek Collins strip-sacked Winston with one minute left to play, which set up a game-sealing interception.

In the 2017 Divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, Irving claims that in the final snap of the game the officials missed a holding call committed by Packers guard T.J. Lang against him. During that play, Aaron Rodgers made a completion to Jared Cook with Cook's maintaining his feet a few inches inbounds from the sidelines. That completion set up a 51 yard Mason Crosby field goal to win the game with only three seconds on the clock.

Career stats