Russell Wilson to Carlos Dunlap before the DE re-signed with Seahawks: I’m here to stay
All along, Carlos Dunlap wanted to return to Seattle.
“It was the culture, the city ... the transparency from the organization. And I felt our (2020) season was cut short,” Dunlap said Wednesday.
Before he signed his two-year contract for $16.6 million with $8.5 million guaranteed last month, he needed Russell Wilson to reassure him the Seahawks’ franchise quarterback was going to remain the Seahawks’ franchise quarterback.
“I did ask him if, obviously, he was going to be with us. Because if I’m coming back, I’m coming back because I see him as my quarterback — and the rest of the team. I want to pick up where we left off (in 2020),” the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end said of Wilson.
“And he told me that he’s with us and that he’s here to stay. And he said, ‘Let’s go Hawks!’ ...
“These words are not his words, verbatim. They are my explanation of how I interpreted what he said.”
Dunlap’s explanation is the most direct depiction yet that, following a winter into spring of as-wild-as-Animal-Planet rumors that Wilson wants out of Seattle, the QB is staying.
Wilson added to those rumors by telling Seattle reporters during a Zoom interview in February that “I’m frustrated with getting hit too much” after years in the Seahawks’ offense behind their line.
The Seahawks released Dunlap last month to save $14 million against their 2021 salary cap. They re-signed him plus veteran pass rusher Kerry Hyder, who had 8 1/2 sacks last season for San Francisco, for a combined cap charge this year that will be less than half what Dunlap’s would have been for 2021 under his previous contract. That deal was what the Seahawks inherited from Cincinnati while trading for Dunlap in October.
Dunlap had 4-1/2 sacks in his first six games for Seattle beginning in early November. He had two game-ending sacks to clinch Seahawks victories against Arizona and at Washington. After the one at Washington, the 69-year-old Carroll just about tackled his big, tall defensive end to celebrate.
“This is what I’m here to do,” Dunlap said after his second winning sack.
Carroll and Seattle general manager John Schneider agreed upon acquiring Dunlap last fall to let him shop in free agency this month if they and Dunlap could not agree on a re-worked contract at a better (for the Seahawks) cap charge than the $14 million for 2021.
When they couldn’t, the Seahawks released the 32-year-old veteran. He remained unsigned for two weeks.
Dunlap wanted to return to Seattle. But he and his agent began wondering if Seattle wanted him back when after a week the Seahawks began signing other free agents at other positions, such as tight end Gerald Everett from the Los Angeles Rams and cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon from San Francisco.
Then, the Seahawks called Dunlap.
“It was done in 24 hours,” he said of the new deal and his love for Seattle.
“I think that speaks for itself.”
But before he signed, he wanted Wilson’s reassurance that the noise of him wanted to leave the team and him possibly getting traded—to Chicago, to Dallas, to Tahiti and wherever else—was just that: noise.
Wilson told Dunlap he’s not going anywhere, and they would all be running it back together in Seattle in 2021.
“That was before I signed,” Dunlap said.
In the team’s twin pass-rush signings, the 29-year-old Hyder figures to excel as the five-technique, strongside defensive end in a 4-3 scheme, which Carroll features in Seattle. Hyder can also play inside on passing downs in a hybrid end-tackle role the Seahawks used with Michael Bennett years ago.
Dunlap shines as a “Leo,” weakside defensive end in the 4-3.
In their first seven games without Dunlap last season Seattle was at the bottom of the NFL with 12 sacks. In Dunlap’s first seven games with the Seahawks they had 27 sacks. That was supreme value for $1.8 million, the prorated cost of having him for the last nine weeks of 2020.
Seattle finished as a team with the sixth-most sacks in the league last season, up from 31st in 2019. That’s a large reason why the Seahawks won the NFC West with a 12-4 record despite Wilson and the offense stagnating against deeper pass coverage the latter half of 2020.
“I just feel like with such a small sample of games I got the opportunity to play in you were able to see what we were able to do and accomplish,” Dunlap said Tuesday. “I feel like if we get that from day on, with an offseason program and being in OTAs and being in meetings and learning the culture, I just feel like the sky’s the limit. I feel like we were able to accomplish such great things last season in such a short period of time. I just wanted to build on that. ...
“I’m grateful I get the opportunity to do that.”
And grateful that he gets the opportunity to play with Wilson in Seattle.
Yes, for as long as Wilson and Dunlap can see.
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 1:45 PM.
