This won’t come as much of a surprise given the tension between player and team, but the Bengals have had active trade talks surrounding defensive end Carlos Dunlap, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com writes. In fact, Dunlap may be deactivated for this afternoon’s game against the Browns so that he doesn’t suffer an injury that would scuttle a potential deal.
Dunlap started Cincinnati’s first four games of the season and played in 75% of the team’s snaps in its Week 4 win over the Jaguars. But he did not start in the Bengals’ Week 5 loss to the Ravens — the first time in years he had not started a game — and he ultimately played in just 46% of the defensive snaps.
The 31-year-old took issue with the fact that head coach Zac Taylor did not talk to him personally about his demotion, and he recently posted the Bengals’ edge rotations on social media, saying “I don’t got time for this” (via Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic on Twitter). With Cincinnati in rebuild mode, it would not be surprising to see them move on from their unhappy pass rusher.
Of course, plenty of pundits and executives believed the Bengals should have been sellers at last year’s trade deadline, but the team elected to stand pat and did not make any moves to add to its draft capital. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that Cincinnati may do the same this year, with one NFC executive saying the team’s asking prices on its veteran trade candidates are too high.
Jones’ CBS Sports colleague, Jason La Canfora, is also hearing from rival execs that the Bengals’ have unrealistic demands, though there is a sense that a trade is likelier to get done this year than it was last year. Dunlap, as Rapoport suggests, may have already played his last snap as a Bengal, but RapSheet says Geno Atkins and A.J. Green are probably not going anywhere.
Send Dunlap to Buffalo! They’ll make you some chicken wings?…
I think he goes to San Fran for a 5th round pick
I really do not understand Cincinnati’s logic. Dunlap is apparently not talented enough to play all snaps at this point in his career, yet they expect a significant haul in return? Clearly Carlos is not part of the future. I would start discussions at a high day three pick and award the highest bidder.
I agree with the commenter above that San Francisco would be a good fit given their injury issues. Other contenders in need of a rotational pass-rusher include Seattle, Miami (maybe), Tennessee, and Oakland
Dunlap was an integral part of a REALLY good defensive front for a long time. Even then, though, he wasn’t a “max effort” guy. He was disruptive in bursts and did a really good job of knocking down passes when he couldn’t get penetration.
In the last couple years, he’s just kind of disappeared. He’ll chase plays down once in a while, but he generally just gets stood up at the point of attack, or runs himself up the field and out of the play.
If he’d embrace a part-time role, he could still probably be a contributor. The staff and Dunlap have both handled this badly. It’s a shame his run in Cincinnati is going to end this way.
The staff has not shown any finesse in handling players (particularly veterans like Dunlap, Atkins, and Green) on the roster. Granted, most of Cincy’s vets will not be on the roster in the next two years, but the clunkiness of the team seems like it could be related to a general lack of trust or enthusiasm on the part of the established players.
That’s all mostly speculative, of course, but the one certainty is that Cincy’s staff really messed up by not telling Dunlap and Atkins that they would see a drastic reduction in their roles. Earned or unearned, the professional thing would have been to at least inform them ahead of time, given their long term importance to past teams. I mean, it’s not hard. Sit a guy down, tell him he’ll be rotational, thank him for what he’s meant, and at least you spent ten minutes doing something the right way and won’t look unprofessional to the rest of the locker room and potential free agents around the league.
Exactly. If Dunlap and Atkins are not going to figure prominently into their future, the best thing to do would be dealing them to a contender as a sign of respect instead of abruptly benching them
This team is cursed. No other explanation
Anyone notice how collinsworth kisses the Seahawks behind every game he announces with them?
Eh, to be fair, Collinsworth kisses everyones’ behinds. I would like to see him and other commenters hold the officials more accountable for bad/impactful calls, though.