Seahawks corner Quinton Dunbar to have season-ending knee surgery
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll confirmed Wednesday cornerback Quinton Dunbar will have season-ending knee surgery after being placed on injured reserve last month.
“Quinton is going to stay on IR. He’s going to get his knee fixed,” Carroll said on a Zoom call with reporters. “He just couldn’t turn make the turn. He tried really hard the last couple weeks and he just can’t get over the hump on it, and so he’s going to get that taken care of.”
Carroll said he thought the surgery would happen “soon.”
The news ends what turned into a disappointing introduction to Seattle for the 28-year-old defensive back, who will be a free agent after the season wraps up.
When the Seahawks acquired Dunbar from Washington in March, the sixth-year defensive back was coming off his best season.
Dunbar started 11 games in 2019 — he started 27 total in his five seasons with Washington — and hauled in a career-high four interceptions before he landed on IR in December with a hamstring injury.
The Seahawks jumped on the opportunity to trade for Dunbar a few months later, sending a fifth-round draft pick — the same pick they acquired earlier from the Steelers in exchange for tight end Nick Vannett — back to Washington.
The rangy corner was expected to immediately compete with Tre Flowers for the starting job opposite Shaquill Griffin.
But, his arrival was delayed.
When the Seahawks opened training camp this summer, Dunbar was still back east, waiting to find out whether he would be on trial for an alleged felony armed robbery in Miramar, Fla.
An arrest warrant, which alleged Dunbar was involved in an armed robbery at a party with former Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker — who is now with the Chiefs — was issued by the Miramar Police Department in May.
Dunbar pleaded not guilty and all charges against him were dropped by Broward County prosecutors in August.
The NFL later reinstated Dunbar, and he reported to Seahawks training camp, though he played behind Flowers until late August. He missed more practices when he was excused to return to Florida for a funeral.
Even with the late arrival, Carroll was excited about how Dunbar fit into Seattle’s defense, and he started Week 1 against the Falcons, playing 78% of the defensive snaps. He started the following week against New England, and recorded his first interception as a Seahawk.
He didn’t play the following two weeks against Dallas and Miami, but returned against Minnesota and for three more games after Seattle’s bye week in October. He was placed on IR following the loss to the Bills in early November and hasn’t played since with what Carroll has termed as a “chronic” knee injury.
Dunbar ultimately appeared in six games, playing 397 defensive snaps and tallying 30 tackles, five passes defended and the one interception and often struggled in coverage.
This was the final year of his contract, with a base salary of $3.25 million.
What did the Seahawks get from Dunbar this season? “It’s hard to say,” Seahawks defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said Wednesday on a Zoom call.
“He’s new to us, and we don’t have a lot of information on exactly how his health was when he wasn’t here, but it felt like from the day he got here he wasn’t 100% of himself,” Norton said. “At the same time, he’s overcoming the injury, and we hadn’t had a lot of information about how he plays with injury, or if that’s the way he plays. So, it was a situation where obviously there’s some work that needed to be done on his on his knee, and it’s fortunate now that he’s able to get that done.
“But, a really good player. Really smart. Guys really work with him well. You can tell that he’s got some really special stuff about him. He was just unable to continue it over a long period of time.”
With Dunbar ruled out for the year and Flowers still making his way back from a hamstring injury — he is back at practice this week — D.J. Reed figures to continue to be a factor on Seattle’s surging defense.
Reed has seemingly emerged out of nowhere for Seattle after spending the summer as a reserve safety with the 49ers and tearing a pectoral muscle.
San Francisco waived the 24-year-old in August with an injury designation, intending to put him on injured reserve, but the Seahawks claimed him.
Reed was cleared on Oct. 31 and debuted for Seattle the following day against the 49ers, tallying his first career interception.
He’s appeared in eight games — starting six — and helped lift Seattle’s pass defense with 41 tackles, six passes defended, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
“He plays and practices at a certain level, and you can see why he performs the way he does,” Norton said. “He’s hungry, he’s eager and he’s earned his right to play. We appreciate the way he approaches things, and he’s doing a heck of a job for us.”
Carroll said Reed was on Seattle’s radar before this impressive breakout, but again credited general manager John Schneider for bringing
“I knew of him, but I had not studied him much, and this is really, like I’ve said, to John’s credit in the scouting department, finding the guy that could fit in and do something and they really had a great vision to see how he could fit in, and I’m really excited about the way he’s playing,” Carroll said.
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 2:10 PM.
