Carlos Dunlap joins Seahawks ‘betting on myself’ to fix his new team’s old pass-rush issue
First day, Carlos Dunlap already had a huge smile, a Seahawks bucket hat, a plan—and an immediate distinction.
Tallest, loooooooooooooongest player on his new team’s needy defense.
“Really good to see a big, long pass rusher on the field with us,” defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said following Wednesday’s indoor practice.
“He has that look. ...He’s a guy that can certainly step up and pressure the quarterback, get him down in key situations.
“Very welcome to see him come in. We are all excited to have him here. And he’s very excited to be here. That’s what’s really exciting to see.”
The 6-foot-6 pass rusher and two-time Pro Bowl defensive end practiced Wednesday for the first time since Seattle acquired him in a trade with Cincinnati seven days earlier. He talked briefly at the start of practice with coach Pete Carroll and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt, then went right into their defense.
Dunlap is on track to make his debut for Seattle (6-1) on Sunday at the AFC-East leading Buffalo Bills (6-2). It will be the first NFL game in his 11-year career playing for anyone other than the Bengals.
“I’m super excited. I mean, this is a whole lot better than the hotel room I’ve been in the last six days,” Dunlap said.
He laughed.
He first had to go through six days of COVID-19 testing, per NFL protocol for a player joining a new team. That protocol ended Tuesday.
While quarantining near Seahawks headquarters he was in constant, remote contact with Hurtt and new teammates. He studied the playbook and film. Carroll said that accelerated Dunlap’s acclimation to the defense.
“The good thing is he just took a week off (to rest). He hasn’t been practicing, preparing, playing games, all that,” Carroll said.
“I don’t see any restriction at all on him playing this week.”
The Seahawks need him to. They have for weeks. Months, actually. After striking out on re-signing Jadeveon Clowney this spring and summer and with top rookie pass rusher Darrell Taylor yet to play because of leg surgery he had last winter, Seattle has eight sacks in seven games from defensive linemen. That’s a large reason the Seahawks, who also lost edge rusher Bruce Irvin to a season-ending knee injury in September, are last in the league in yards allowed and passing yards allowed.
No wonder Carroll says he and his team are “really excited to have (Dunlap) out here. He’s really pumped about being part of it.”
Dunlap looked pumped on day one. He laughed, a lot. He said he was “revived, refreshed,” after the 2-5-1 Bengals had demoted him weeks ago to mostly third downs only.
“I was fired up when coach PC called me and basically explained how he wanted to use me,” he said of his phone ringing over last week’s trade for never-used offensive lineman B.J. Finney and a seventh-round draft choice. “He’s watched me and played against me throughout my career.
“And he said you strengths are this. I’ve seen them. I’ve felt them. And this is what we are going to use you to do.”
“This” is the weakside, “Leo” defensive end in Carroll’s 4-3 scheme. Dunlap’s job as the “Leo” end: go chase and sack quarterbacks.
Dunlap has never had fewer than 7 1/2 sacks in any full season since he became an every-game starter in Cincinnati in 2013.
He turns 32 in February. He said this is his chance to re-write the later stages of his career, “with a golden pen.”
He’s gone from a perennial losing Bengals team that has never won a Super Bowl to one that has, in the last seven years. Seattle has reached the playoffs in seven of the last eight years.
The Seahawks have the NFC’s best record eight weeks into the league season, despite needing a pass rusher like an American presidential election needs patience.
That’s why Dunlap is here. The pass-rusher part, anyway.
He wanted to be in Seattle so much he agreed to restructure his contract and take less money for the rest of this season to play for a contender.
He called it “being on the other side,” a winning side.
Dunlap confirmed he agreed upon his trade last week the restructure. He moved about $3 million from his contract in 2020 to 2021, in the form of a roster bonus he could be paid next spring.
Dunlap had been scheduled to receive $4,588,235 in the final 10 weeks of this season. That was the prorated amount remaining on his $7.8 million base salary for 2020.
Now he will count $2 million, all guaranteed to him, against Seattle’s salary cap for 2020. His restructure means he reportedly gets a $3 million roster bonus on the fifth day of the 2021 league year, which begins in March.
So the Seahawks, hard against the NFL 2020 salary cap before they traded for Dunlap, save approximately $2.6 million in space this year.
The key to the deal for them for the future is Dunlap’s contract is not guaranteed for 2021. Seattle can release him after this season without a cap impact next year, if it chooses. Or his new team can keep him by renegotiating his deal for 2021 that’s now scheduled to carry a cap charge of $14.1 million next year.
Dunlap said restructuring wasn’t a difficult decision. If the Seahawks want to walk away from him after this season because of cost, he’s betting he can produce for a winning team enough to attract a lucrative offer in free agency next spring.
Productive pass rushers tend to do that in this passer-and-sack-the-passer league.
“I have full confidence and faith in betting on myself,” Dunlap said. “And betting with the Seahawks, who else would I want to bet with, you know? It was like a win-win situation.
“At this point in my career, if I was ever (to) put on another jersey, I wanted to go to an organization where I was the last piece to help them win and get a Super Bowl. ...
“So now? Put my money where my mouth is. And now we’ve got let my play speak—and my pads speak, as they would say here.
“You know, I’m being asked to do what I’ve done my best football doing. So it’s a win-win situation for me.
“I don’t know how to explain it in any clearer terms. But this is definitely a win-win situation.”
