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https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/310 ... los-dunlap

There goes the most productive D line rusher. Back in the same hole were were in before we acquired him with regard to pass rush, or the lack thereof.

3rd year in a row we've let our best pass rusher go in the off season.
I hope they can re-sign him to a more favorable contract, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up with the Rams or 49ers and give us fits twice a year.

Could it be that we're prioritizing the OL to try to placate the wishes of a certain player?

If we get rid of our best pass rusher, it won't matter very much if we improve our O line. The O line won't be on the field enough to see a difference.

Damn.

I can't other than to say Pete chronically undervalues the Big Uglies on both sides of the line.

Old but Slow wrote:Can someone explain the logic of this? The team is loaded (?) with safety talent and linebackers and deficient in both lines. So trade our best pass rusher from the defensive line. Please explain.

J Adams has value to trade, providing picks and cap room. He does not fit the team and was mostly ineffective for such a great athlete. We took Blair with a 2d round pick and he is regularly praised and brings some toughness. B Wags (my favorite) is still playing well, and could be very valuable to a team with a young defense. And he will be getting 20 mil after this year. Why did we draft all these linebackers if we are keeping our vets forever? Again, picks, cap space, and maybe a good young player.

Dunlap? Please.

One of the theories is that the Hawks will try and re-sign Dunlap at a lower price, but I'm leaning towards the thought that the Hawks are clearing cap space to bring in a free agent OL in order to patch up the relationship with their starting quarterback.

Sure; make room to sign OL talent. Then I’ll get to hear Wilson complain that the defense can’t close out a game and that’s why he’s not winning. As a $35 million QB, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for his complaining. He made enough dumb mistakes that cost big games. He needs to be doing just about everything right for that kind of money. Or the market needs to seriously check itself on QBs. When QBs get paid that kind of money but then can’t go the distance, that underlines just how team dependent this game is, and perhaps starting QBs are a little over valued if they can’t win despite roster deficiencies.

Old but Slow wrote:Can someone explain the logic of this? The team is loaded (?) with safety talent and linebackers and deficient in both lines. So trade our best pass rusher from the defensive line. Please explain.

J Adams has value to trade, providing picks and cap room. He does not fit the team and was mostly ineffective for such a great athlete. We took Blair with a 2d round pick and he is regularly praised and brings some toughness. B Wags (my favorite) is still playing well, and could be very valuable to a team with a young defense. And he will be getting 20 mil after this year. Why did we draft all these linebackers if we are keeping our vets forever? Again, picks, cap space, and maybe a good young player.

Dunlap? Please.

They didn't play him like we would have expected, but I doubt they would do the same if our DL had the ability to pressure the QB, so we haven't yet seen how they would really like to use him. I think he's the type of player Pete loves so with him on the block it was like a wiggling worm to a hungry pike and Pete just couldn't contain himself. That Adams actually gave them some needed pressure off the edge was a bonus.

MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:Sure; make room to sign OL talent. Then I’ll get to hear Wilson complain that the defense can’t close out a game and that’s why he’s not winning. As a $35 million QB, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for his complaining. He made enough dumb mistakes that cost big games. He needs to be doing just about everything right for that kind of money. Or the market needs to seriously check itself on QBs. When QBs get paid that kind of money but then can’t go the distance, that underlines just how team dependent this game is, and perhaps starting QBs are a little over valued if they can’t win despite roster deficiencies.

Wilson's just setting the stage to push himself out the door.

I read that when the Hawks traded for him they had a handshake deal with him that they would release him if they couldn’t come together on a long-term contract. If that’s the case I’m not surprised they couldn’t come together with a deal. With the cap this year Free Agency is going to be hard to gauge.

mykc14 wrote:I read that when the Hawks traded for him they had a handshake deal with him that they would release him if they couldn’t come together on a long-term contract. If that’s the case I’m not surprised they couldn’t come together with a deal. With the cap this year Free Agency is going to be hard to gauge.

I can accept that.

mykc14 wrote:I read that when the Hawks traded for him they had a handshake deal with him that they would release him if they couldn’t come together on a long-term contract. If that’s the case I’m not surprised they couldn’t come together with a deal. With the cap this year Free Agency is going to be hard to gauge.

I wouldn't write off Dunlap just yet. This could be a situation similar to Clowney last season, where we can't agree on a long term deal, let him test the free market, then negotiate with him for a smaller contract.

Agreed about free agency being very hard to gauge this season, and the Hawks could be anticipating a much lower value than what Dunlap and his agent are hoping for.

There might be a lot of teams doing the same thing with the Cap lower than last year and even though DE's are a valued commodity it might be that with a higher volume than normal of
Free Agents, there won't be a lot of money for an Ageing DE. Teams that think they only need one or two pieces for their team may bite but again, the lower Cap could have a downward pressure
on what's offered.

Dunlop is only one of many of our "best" any a position FA's. Chris Carson and Shaquill Griffin are both FA's and I'm sure there are more. This year of the 'great cap reduction' will also put tons of really good mid-level players (like Dunlop, Carson, etc) on the market across the league. There is only so much cap $$$ to go around, so at some point this offseason you will see a ton of one-year and two-year deals with these very good vets who are out looking for the best deal.
So, yes, we could re-sign Dunlop, but that just doesn't happen much. With what is going on with Russell and the very bad press it has brought, truthful or not, I just don't see us being very active and that means the players also have to want to come here. Players not wanting to come here...Something we haven't seen since pre Holmgren.

jshawaii22 wrote:So, yes, we could re-sign Dunlop, but that just doesn't happen much. With what is going on with Russell and the very bad press it has brought, truthful or not, I just don't see us being very active and that means the players also have to want to come here. Players not wanting to come here...Something we haven't seen since pre Holmgren.

That's my fear, too, and it's the big reason why the Hawks are upset with Russell taking his complaints public. It's going to make it difficult to attract free agents that have multiple options, and if we can't afford to pay them top dollar, they are going to have a lot of suitors.

That's my fear, too, and it's the big reason why the Hawks are upset with Russell taking his complaints public.

We don't know if Russell has been pressuring Pete and John behind closed doors to no avail.
If that's the case his only alternative was to let it leak out publicly via his many surrogates in the media.
He's been shut out of discussions as to how to fix the Offense, so that's a glimpse of his situation.
It might be much worse than we know, or it might not be as bad as it seems. But we do know he's not happy with the status quo.

LOL Once the toilet is flushed it cannot be reversed and the Seahawks are now in the downward spiral!!!

When Russ leaves he will also take his favorites with him like DK and Lockett and others will retire early leaving a 8th grade team

This happens to all teams that do not have a clue how to manage charlatans

Too bad you have to start over was fun while it lasted but the pro teams will be playing now

Yours Truly Rambo

NorthHawk wrote:We don't know if Russell has been pressuring Pete and John behind closed doors to no avail. If that's the case his only alternative was to let it leak out publicly via his many surrogates in the media.

If Russell was working behind the scenes but to no avail, he had other options besides taking his issue to the public. He could have asked privately for a trade or he could have sucked it up and accepted no for an answer and kept his mouth shut.

NorthHawk wrote:We don't know if Russell has been pressuring Pete and John behind closed doors to no avail. If that's the case his only alternative was to let it leak out publicly via his many surrogates in the media.

RiverDog wrote:If Russell was working behind the scenes but to no avail, he had other options besides taking his issue to the public. He could have asked privately for a trade or he could have sucked it up and accepted no for an answer and kept his mouth shut.

So those are the options? Ask for a trade in private or just shut up?

Personally if that's the case I'm happy as hell he chose door #3 to to try to make things work while remaining a Seahawk.

c_hawkbob wrote:So those are the options? Ask for a trade in private or just shut up?

Of course, they're options. I may have been a little overly graphic, but the point is that he didn't HAVE to go public.

c_hawkbob wrote:Personally if that's the case I'm happy as hell he chose door #3 to to try to make things work while remaining a Seahawk.

If it results in our becoming a better team, then I'm for it. But I am not at all convinced that his chosen tactic will result in a better outcome. If the Hawks call his bluff and trade him, both parties could easily end up worse off.

Time will tell.

c_hawkbob wrote:I can't other than to say Pete chronically undervalues the Big Uglies on both sides of the line.

No question, this sucks!

While the statement about 'undervaluing' does ring true, a lot more on the offense then the defense. On defense, our first pick a few years ago decides to go out 4 wheeling, almost dies and never plays a snap and then your best inside man wrecks his knee, and then your next first round pick, Collier at 'edge' is a semi-bust (but guaranteeing he's going to be 'the best' this year) you can't help but slip back.

This is why defense is a little less of a management issue then allowing your offensive line coach to manage it for years, and who decides drafting defensive players out of college for O-Lineman is good because 'he had a better grip' then anyone else. I will admit that 'ol JR Sweezy' did get up to a serviceable level in the NFL, but this type of decision and with Pete staying out of Cable's way, IMHO is the big reason we have gone downhill over the past few years. It takes years to build top OLines and once Russell was off his rookie deal, the $$$ went to other places, it now has become chasing lower levels of talent and changing pieces every year (except Left Tackle). This can't help but degrade the whole thing. And that is a total management issue and one of the main reasons we're where we are today with Russell.

Dunlap resigned with the Seahawks. Glad to hear that. Multi year deal.

trents wrote:Dunlap resigned with the Seahawks. Glad to hear that. Multi year deal.

Yup. We would have had a huge hole had we not been able to resign Dunlap. Our pass rush situation doesn't look all that bad, at least on paper. They were a lot more effective in the 2nd half of the season after we brought in Dunlap.

Here's a comment from ProFootballRumors.com regarding Dunlap's contract:

Seahawks DE Carlos Dunlap: Two-years, $13.6MM. This had previously been reported as $16.6MM, but it turns out Seattle got Dunlap back for a few million cheaper than that, as Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. It’s actually a five-year pact with three years that automatically void for cap spreading purposes. As previously reported, it has $8.5MM in guaranteed money. Dunlap was set to have a $14.1MM cap charge for 2021 before the Seahawks cut him and then re-signed him to this less expensive deal.

I think it's good for both sides. He gets paid and we get to distribute his Cap charge over more years. It's especially important as a player gets older and productivity begins to decline.
Let's hope he has at least 2 good years for us.