Quinton Dunbar Latest Veteran Cornerback to Struggle Transitioning to Seahawks' Scheme
RENTON, WA - Heading into the 2020 season, the Seahawks envisioned a new-look secondary re-emerging as one of the NFL's best.
After all, Seattle returned a Pro Bowl cornerback in Shaquill Griffin along with safety Quandre Diggs, who shined in five starts after being acquired from Detroit prior to last year's trade deadline. To further elevate the group, general manager John Schneider dealt a fifth-round pick to Washington for cornerback Quinton Dunbar and gave the New York Jets a king's ransom for All-Pro safety Jamal Adams this offseason.
Now halfway through the season, however, these moves haven't paid off, at least not to this point. The Seahawks are on pace to surrender north of 5,700 passing yards, which would shatter the previous record for a single season by more than 1,000 yards. They are giving up more than 370 passing yards per game.
There's plenty of finger pointing to go around and this historic defensive ineptitude doesn't fall on the shoulders of any one player. With that said, in terms of underachieving, Dunbar hasn't come anywhere close to meeting expectations in what has been a rocky first season as a Seahawk on and off the field.
Coming off a stellar 2019 season in which he intercepted four passes in just 11 games and allowed a 61.2 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks, Dunbar has been dogged by what Carroll termed a "chronic" knee issue. He missed two games early in the season and since his return to action, teams have been targeting him early and often.
In six starts for Seattle, Dunbar has already allowed 491 yards in coverage, 131 more than he had all of last season. He's surrendered four touchdown passes after giving up just two a year ago and quarterbacks have posted a 111.0 rating when targeting him, taking advantage of him playing at well below 100 percent.
This wasn't more evident than in Sunday's 44-34 loss to the Bills, as Dunbar was visibly laboring on the field from the Seahawks opening defensive drive. Like a shark sensing blood in the water, quarterback Josh Allen picked on him from the outset, including throwing a "pop pass" touchdown to receiver Gabriel Davis, who had beaten the veteran corner on a slant in the end zone.
"It was a hard game yesterday for Quinton," Carroll said when assessing Dunbar's outing. "The ball kept coming his way and he just had trouble getting where he needed to get on a couple things. It was hard on him and it was a hard game on him just physically."
In coverage, Dunbar was clearly hobbled by his knee injury, as he wasn't moving anywhere close to full speed in the secondary. He inexplicably was giving more than 10 yards of cushion to receivers for much of the afternoon. When he had opportunities to make tackles, though he finished with six of them in the game, he seemed uncharacteristically disinterested.
Through the first three quarters, Carroll decided against pulling Dunbar from the game despite obvious physical limitations playing hurt. Already without Griffin and Tre Flowers in the lineup replacing him, the Seahawks lacked sufficient depth at the position and he didn't make a change until the game was already decided late, subbing in Linden Stephens in his place.
For the game, Pro Football Focus gave Dunbar a dismal 28.8 grade in coverage. Overall this season, after being the second-highest graded cornerback in the NFL in 2019, he has a 48.9 overall grade this season, ranking near the bottom of the league for qualified players at the position.
With Dunbar having limited practice time each week to manage his injury, his struggles shouldn't be surprising. But reading through the tea leaves, there may be more to his disappointing play than simply having a sore knee.
After being acquired from Washington, Dunbar told reporters he had learned Carroll's "kick-step" technique working with former assistant coach Marquand Manuel. Given this familiarity along with his ideal size, length, and athletic traits, it looked like his transition would be a smooth one.
But when asked about why Seattle played its cornerbacks so far off the ball in coverage against Buffalo, Carroll made some interesting comments on Monday suggesting Dunbar might not be as good of a fit as anticipated.
"Quinton Dunbar is really a guy who plays on feel and a different style than just a straight on the line of scrimmage press guy. That's not the way he plays," Carroll remarked. "So as we learn him and adapt [to] him, we are trying to figure out how to best position him. Sometimes, he is coming up with stuff that is farther off than we would see fit."
This isn't criticizing Dunbar necessarily. He found great success in Washington playing this style, showing in the past he has an excellent feel for jumping passing lanes and making plays on the football in coverage. This skill set has been seen in spurts with Seattle, though he has dropped a couple gimme interception opportunities.
The problem? In the past, the Seahawks have had a difficult time acclimating veteran cornerbacks to their defensive scheme. "Freelancers" who don't embrace the techniques and principles taught by Carroll and his staff typically haven't flourished, as evidenced back in 2015 by the failed free agent signing of Cary Williams.
After three strong seasons with the Eagles and Ravens, the Seahawks thought the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Williams would fit seamlessly as a replacement for Byron Maxwell at right cornerback, who departed in free agency. But he never fully bought into Carroll's teachings and his propensity for doing his own thing in the secondary eventually led to his release after just 10 games.
In this instance, Dunbar hasn't been with Seattle very long and it's worth noting he missed large chunks of training camp as he dealt with dropped armed robbery charges against him as well as a death in the family. Adding his injury on top of the off field distractions and limited practice time, it's hard to argue against the idea he hasn't had a fair shot at showing what he's capable of.
From Carroll's perspective, the team also hasn't had much of an opportunity to adjust to his strengths either. He remains confident in Dunbar's ability and the coaching staff is still trying to figure out how to best utilize his unique skill set within the confines of their scheme.
"We're trying to figure out how to best help him play... He's a different player than the guys we've been playing with and his background is much different."
While Carroll wants to make things work with the talented Dunbar, however, with the Seahawks aiming to make a deep run in January, there's no doubt his play hasn't been up to par and his health is a major concern moving forward. If his knee isn't going to get much better without rest or even surgery, especially after Sunday's disaster, the team may have no choice but to keep Flowers in the starting lineup once Griffin returns to action.
As far as what the future holds, with Dunbar set to become a free agent in March, barring a strong second-half turnaround spearheaded by improved health, he could be the latest veteran cornerback pickup to be one-and-done in the Pacific Northwest.
