The Seahawks are putting the money they are about to save from Jarran Reed‘s imminent departure to good use. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com was among those to report, Seattle is re-signing defensive end Carlos Dunlap to a two-year, $16.6MM contract with $8.5MM in guarantees (Twitter link).
Seattle acquired Dunlap in a trade deadline deal in October in an effort to boost its struggling pass rush. And Dunlap delivered, contributing five sacks and six tackles for loss in his eight games with the ‘Hawks. However, he was due to carry a $14.1 cap charge in 2021, and that was just too much for the team to stomach with the salary cap decreasing by about $16MM.
As such, the Seahawks released the longtime Bengal several weeks ago, but even before the release, we heard that Seattle could look to cut Dunlap and then re-sign him to a less expensive contract. And that’s exactly what happened.
The Dunlap re-up comes on the heels of Benson Mayowa‘s new one-year deal and Kerry Hyder‘s three-year accord. We heard earlier this evening that the club was set to trade or release Reed, and while Seattle certainly would have liked to retain its DT, Pete Carroll & Co. believe Dunlap is more valuable to the Seahawks at this point.
Dunlap, 32, has 87.5 career sacks to his credit, and he will have a good chance to hit the century mark with the Seahawks. There was no reported interest his services after he was released, but as Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com tweets, he wanted to return to Seattle all along. So both sides are probably pretty happy this evening.
I thought for sure he was going to Dallas.
Brilliant! It’s all coming together.
Great deal for the Hawks. They have some edge depth they haven’t in years.
I wish Carlos well. He did so much for us in Cincinnati and could have left in the past for bigger $. He is still very good…no longer what he was, but if I was a Hawks fan Im atleast feel good because he has something left and is a all around PRO. I expected more interest in him TBH. I figured Zim in Minnesota would kick the tires being his ex Def Coordinator…kinda like he is doing with Geno Atkins.
I’m liking how the hawks have addressed needs on the D front. Will help the secondary also.