Seahawks’ 2021 plans: Jamal Adams surgeries; Phillip Dorsett, Quinton Dunbar, D-line back
Jamal Adams is going to spend a chunk first offseason with the Seahawks with doctors.
On multiple body part.
Coach Pete Carroll confirmed Monday what the All-Pro safety said Saturday following Seattle’s season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the first round of the NFC playoffs: Adams will have a surgery to repair torn labrum in his left shoulder, plus another to fix at least one of his two broken fingers.
Carroll said Adams does not need surgery on his right shoulder. Adams hurt that on the first play of Seattle’s loss at the Rams in November. He played multiple games with that injury, and then through the broken fingers that had what the 25-year-old strong safety said were “little casts” on them.
He also had a strained groin and missed four games in October.
Adams finished his first Seahawks season with 9 1/2 sacks, an NFL record by a defensive back in a season. He was so aggressive attacking the line of scrimmage, offenses often exploited that with play-action fakes and bootlegs that drew Adams out of position in coverage. The Rams did that Saturday in the Seahawks’ playoff loss.
Seattle acquired Adams in July from the New York Jets in a splashy trade of two first-round draft choices and veteran starter Bradley McDougald.
“He’s gonna have surgery for (the) labrum issue that happened (in the regular-season finale against San Francisco) and he’s going to get his fingers fixed,” Carroll said. “He’s got some work to do. He’s one of the guys that gets out of here and he’s got a lot to take into account before he gets back.
“But what a great addition to the team.
“He was banged up a good part of the season. He was hurt, and he played really hurt in this last game. There was a question: is he going to be able to play effective enough to let him play? But his will was just so strong and he just wouldn’t be denied on it and I wanted him to be part of it, but he had to struggle through some plays in this game when you watch it closely.”
Dunbar healing--and returning?
Quinton Dunbar recently had knee surgery. Carroll said it wasn’t serious and cleaned up all that ailed the starting cornerback Seattle acquired in a trade with Washington last spring.
Dunbar’s contact ended with Seattle’s loss to the Rams on Saturday. So did that of Shaquill Griffin, the team’s other starting cornerback.
Griffin said Sunday he hoped to return, and he believes talks will get going with the Seahawks on a new deal soon.
Carroll acknowledged the team has work to do at the cornerback position, contractually. The Seahawks also have D.J. Reed coming back on the final year of his contract due to pay him $920,000 in base salary in 2021.
Reed was a revelation filling in for Dunbar and Tre Flowers at right cornerback opposite Griffin, when Dunbar and Flowers were on injured reserve.
Dorsett returning?
Carroll said he wants Dunbar and wide receiver Dorsett back. Coming off their injuries, they won’t cost as much to keep as Griffin, a 2019 Pro Bowl cornerback, will.
Carroll said Dorsett could possibly have played this month if Seattle had advanced deeper into the postseason. Dorsett had surgery during the season for a chronic foot injury he brought with him when he signed with Seattle as a free-agent from New England. That one-year deal at the veteran minimum of just over $1 million has ended. Carroll said he’s talked with Dorsett about re-signing and returning to the Seahawks in 2021.
“He’s a really interesting player, now. He’s got great speed,” Carroll said. “We’re talking to him. We’d like to have him come back.”
Dorsett could return in place of David Moore as the team’s third wide receiver behind DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Moore is about to become a free agent, in March.
Dunlap, Mayowa in 2021
Carlos Dunlap revitalized the Seahawks’ previously flat-lined pass rush after he arrived in a trade from Cincinnati in late October. The two-time Pro Bowl defensive end had five sacks in his nine games for the Seahawks, including two game-ending ones to preserve wins over Arizona and at Washington.
He is due $10.1 million in base salary with a salary-cap charge of $14.1 million in 2021, the final year of his contract Seattle inherited from the Bengals.
Seattle was among the league’s worst sack teams, with only 12 sacks in their first seven games. They had 37 sacks their last 10 games. The team that finished 31st in the NFL in sacks in 2019 had the sixth-most this regular season.
Benson Mayowa had six sacks in his return season with Seattle in 2020. That was one off his career high set in 2019 with the Raiders. He was effective playing a larger role than expected as a pass-rushing end after Bruce Irvin had season-ending knee surgery in September.
Carroll intends to have Dunlap, who has a 32nd birthday next month, and Mayowa, who will turn 30 before next season, back to shepherd the Seahawks’ younger defensive linemen that remain under contract for next year: Jarran Reed, L.J. Collier, Rasheem Green, Alton Robinson and Darrell Taylor.
Taylor, the team’s second-round pick last April, missed his entire rookie season following surgery to fix a stress fracture last winter but practiced for the first time last week.
“We want to put together this pass rush again and see what what happens when Darrell comes back and enters into it,” Carroll said. “We’d like Benson to come back with us and be part of it. Counting on Carlos to be part of it.”
Carroll said he wants to give Robinson, the team’s impressive rookie fifth-round pick in 2020, “involved more often.”
“He was really good on the left side,” the coach said. “I’d like to give him some more rushes over there.
“That’s the main focus, to make sure that this pass first comes back intact.”
