Back With Seahawks, Carlos Dunlap Ready to Attack Unfinished Business

SEATTLE, WA - When the Seahawks acquired Carlos Dunlap from the Bengals in a midseason trade last October, the veteran defensive end understood there was a chance he would hit the free agent market for the first time in March.

After all, in order to execute the trade in exchange for center B.J. Finney and a seventh-round pick, Dunlap agreed to bet on himself to an extent by accepting a $2.6 million pay cut to fit under Seattle's tight salary cap. Consequently, he would be due a $3 million roster bonus five days after the start of the 2021 league year and thus carry a massive $14.1 million cap hit on the final year of his contract.

With the entire league dealing with a salary cap that plummeted from nearly $200 million to $182.5 million, such an investment was simply too rich for the Seahawks to keep on the books. Unable to reach an agreement on a new deal as free agency rapidly approached, the team released him on March 8, taking a risk they could eventually re-sign him at a more team-friendly price tag.

Though Dunlap told reporters on Tuesday that Seattle was honest with him at the time of the trade about the possibility he could be cut loose and re-signed after the season, he admitted it was tough to swallow when he was actually released.

"When it actually happened, yeah it hit different because I'd never been cut before," Dunlap said. "But they were still very transparent and they wanted me to know they wanted me back. This was just one of the moves they had to make because of the situation they were in cap-wise with the new numbers."

All along, after serving as the catalyst for a revitalized defense in the second half of the 2020 season, Dunlap knew he wanted to stay with the Seahawks. Even with other competitors sniffing around hoping to sign Dunlap, once Russell Wilson assured him he would be "here to stay" and Seattle presented a new offer to him on March 24, the two sides were able to strike an agreement within 24 hours.

Upon his arrival, Dunlap enjoyed a renaissance of sorts following the trade to Seattle, producing 5.0 sacks and 14 quarterback hits in just eight games, while the rest of the front line stepped up around him. No other team in the league had more sacks after he made his debut in a 44-34 loss to Buffalo in Week 9 and the team gave up less than 15 points per game from Week 10 through the end of the regular season, which culminated in a 12-4 record and an NFC West title.

Now with the advantage of having an entire offseason to continue working with his teammates and developing chemistry, Dunlap envisions last season's second half surge as a stepping stone for even greater success in 2021.

"I just feel like with such a small sample of games that I had an opportunity to play in, we were able to see what we were able to do and accomplish," Dunlap remarked. "I feel like if we can get that from day one with the offseason program and being in OTAs and being in the meetings, learning the culture, I just feel like sky's the limit cause we were able to accomplish such great things last season in a short period of time. I just want an opportunity to build on that."

While one of the biggest benefactors of the trade, Jarran Reed, won't be back after being released and signing a one-year deal with the Chiefs, Dunlap doesn't think the Seahawks' defensive line has come close to reaching their ceiling. He raved about the talent and depth returning across the board, including name dropping the recently-extended Poona Ford and Rasheem Green, and suggested he could have named off the entire group while summing up his excitement.

Though he thinks it would be "very dope" to reunite with former Bengals teammate and unsigned free agent Geno Atkins in Seattle, Dunlap feels the foundation is already in place to compensate for Reed's departure.

"We have a lot of the core pieces here that we can build [around]," Dunlap commented. "Obviously, J. Reed was a huge cornerstone prior to me coming here for a long time and it's one of those business things seeing him go... I'm just gonna focus on what we have and figure out how to pick up where we left off and continue to make it better."

Though the team's culture and transparency were two main driving factors in Dunlap's decision to return to the Seahawks, he also spoke about his desire to take care of unfinished business as a key reason for re-signing, citing the team's 2020 season being "cut short." After winning six of their final seven games to capture a division title, they were ousted by the Rams in the wild card round on their own home turf, falling well short of expectations.

Having never been on the winning side in a playoff game in his 11-year career, the poor performance still eats at Dunlap, who believes Seattle should have gone much further in the postseason than it did. Welcoming the challenge to advance deeper into the playoffs this time around, he remains hopeful he and his teammates can build upon where they were in January and make a run at a Lombardi Trophy.

To ensure he maintains 2020 vibes as closely as possible in his first full season as a Seahawk, Dunlap will stick with jersey No. 43 for good measure.

"I'm looking to pick up where we left off and make it better. That includes me keeping the same number. I'm a creature of habit and I like to finish what I started and I feel like we have a lot of unfinished work to be done."