Determining Seahawks' Contingency Plan at Defensive End Following Carlos Dunlap's Release
Initially, I was planning to write this from the perspective of "If the Seahawks cut Carlos Dunlap," but it appears the team has already gone ahead and made their decision. Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Seattle will release the 32-year old Dunlap and net $14.1 million in instant cap savings. But now, defensive end is suddenly one of the team's biggest needs for the third year in a row.
When I was originally drafting this article last night, I talked about how poor the Seahawks' pass rush had been for the year-and-a-half between trading Frank Clark to the Chiefs in 2019 and acquiring Carlos Dunlap from the Bengals near the 2020 trade deadline, and why they should avoid getting back to that point at all costs. Last season, their lack of consistent pressure on the quarterback led to historically bad defensive numbers through the first half, thus triggering a desperate search for some form of upgrade.
Dunlap was being phased out of a dysfunctional Bengals organization in favor of younger players, and he made his frustrations with his situation and desire to leave rather public as the trade deadline fast approached. The Seahawks were able to pounce on the opportunity, acquiring Cincinnati's all-time sacks leader for a mere seventh-round draft choice and center B.J. Finney.
Upon Dunlap's arrival, Seattle's defense turned things around. In eight games, Dunlap put up 5.0 sacks on 14 quarterback hits and opened up plenty of opportunities for his teammates to thrive. Finally, the Seahawks once again had a respectable - albeit still flawed - pass-rushing unit.
But now they're back at square one with the news of Dunlap's release.
Darrell Taylor is expected to finally make his professional debut this fall, L.J. Collier had a solid bounce-back campaign in 2020, Rasheem Green has been a fine rotational piece, and Alton Robinson showed potential in his rookie season, so they may be in a better position than they were last offseason. However, none of the players on their roster have proven they have the ability to take on a lead role in the group and put up double-digit sacks.
With Benson Mayowa and Bruce Irvin also unrestricted free agents, the Seahawks have their work cut out for them in addressing the position.
Cutting Dunlap was, of course, a consequence of their lack of salary cap space. With Seattle boasting just $2.5 million in effective cap space per OverTheCap.com, Dunlap was viewed as a prime cut candidate because the team could recuperate all $14.1 million of his 2021 cap hit with zero dead money involved. Though they wanted to dodge this situation by coming to an agreement on an extension with Dunlap, they're now in a much more comfortable spot with $18.6 million under the cap ($16.6 million in effective cap).
That doesn't mean they're going reinvest all that money back into the position, however. Though pass rush is a pressing need all of a sudden, there's still the Russell Wilson dilemma and the need to address their interior offensive line appears to far outweigh anything else on their to-do list. But they do have other avenues to create more financial flexibility for themselves, so, in theory, they can pretty much target whoever they wish on the open market.
They seemingly have two spots to fill in the group, so they could take an alternate approach by signing a pair of edge pieces in the second tier of the current free agent pool. Perhaps one of those players is Dunlap, who the Seahawks still aim to reunite with on a long-term deal at a smaller 2021 cap hit than the one he was set to have.
With the unprecedented amount of quality players expected to hit free agency in a couple weeks and a league-wide salary cap crunch, there are bound to be good players who end up signing for below their market value. Edge is likely going to be a spot that gets hit the hardest in that scenario due to the great depth of the position in this free agency class.
The Seahawks could potentially wait things out and let the market fall to them. That would be an incredible risk to take, especially if Dunlap goes elsewhere, though there's an undeniable possibility they could find great value through this method as they try to build a championship-caliber roster with limited resources.
But there's no way around it: The Seahawks, by their inability to extend Dunlap now, have put them in an awkward and difficult position. They are now faced with a return to pass-rush futility, adding yet another big item to their laundry list of needs this offseason.
This time, however, they aren't short of outside options to supplement the position. Unlike the past two years, their backs aren't necessarily against the wall just yet, where their only option to truly get better is through trade with draft capital they just don't have. There are plenty of options to comb through in free agency and several ways they can afford themselves the opportunity to get almost anyone they prefer.
Whatever they do, they cannot let this position take a backseat again. They've seen how much of a negative impact a poor pass-rushing unit can have on their defense; this is not something they can just patch together. They have to make this one of their top priorities over the coming weeks.
