The Seattle Seahawks have made a move to address their lacking pass rush by acquiring defensive end Carlos Dunlap from the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for offensive lineman B.J. Finney and a seventh-round draft pick, per multiple reports.
Former NFL defensive lineman Leger Douzable was the first to report the trade.
Due to COVID-19 intake protocols, Dunlap would not be available to play for Seattle until their Week 9 game against the Buffalo Bills.
Dunlap, 31, had fallen out of favor with the Bengals as the team told him to stay away from the facility on Wednesday as they sorted out his future. He had an argument on the sidelines with an assistant coach late in the team's loss to the Cleveland Browns last week. He had taken to instagram to complain about his playing time and status on the roster.
Dunlap had seen his snap count drop under 50 percent the last three weeks with the Bengals and he saw a season-low 12 snaps against Cleveland last weekend.
"Carlos has been a very, very consistent player for a long time," Carroll said of the trade after practice. "He's always been fast, always been athletic. He still moves his feet well and gets off the rock and knows exactly how to play the spot that we want to play him in. Really I was excited to share that with him. He was concerned. He didn't know how we would play him and all. So that was good for him to hear.
"This is an outside guy, he's classically what you're looking for as an edge rusher," Carroll said. "There's always times you're mixing schemes and you're doing things to disguise stuff and all of that. He's got the ability to (move inside) but that's not what we're bringing him here to do."
The lack of playing time seems to be one thing that really had bothered Dunlap in Cincinnati.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m nervous as hell but I’m excited as f— too," Dunlap said on his instagram account. "It’s all up from here. It’s all up from here. Let’s go. I get to play. Above all, I get to PLAY!”
Dunlap has two years left on his contract with his 2021 salary being a non-guaranteed $10.1 million in base salary with up to $1 million in roster and workout bonuses. He will make approximately $4.8 million with Seattle over the remainder of this season with $4.6 million in base salary and $250,000 in per-game roster bonuses.
Finney signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Seahawks in free agency this spring with the expectation he would become the team's starting center. Instead, Ethan Pocic had the job nearly from the jump at training camp and Finney hasn't seen the field on offense this season for Seattle. He has played just 29 snaps on special teams in six games played.
The Seahawks only had $1.3 million in salary cap space as of Tuesday. The swap for Finney will offset some of the contract Seattle is absorbing but some additional contract work would likely be needed to fit Dunlap's deal onto the roster.
Seattle's pass rush has been abysmal this season with just nine sacks through six games. Dunlap has 82.5 sacks in his career with the Bengals and had 9.0 sacks in 14 games played last season in Cincinnati. Dunlap had just one sack so far this season for Cincinnati with 18 tackles in seven games played.
Given the lack of pass rush potency, a move to add to the group was certainly understandable. While Dunlap may not be the player he once was, he's worth a flier to help bolster a struggling Seattle defense. The Seahawks will also see the return of defensive end Rasheem Green from injured reserve in the coming weeks with defensive tackle Damon Harrison expected to be elevated from the practice squad in the near future as well.
"We have a young group here that would certainly benefit from having a veteran like that on the team," defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said. "As you've seen in the games we need as much pressure, much pass rush as we can get right now so the quarterback doesn't have that extra time for them to uncover the coverage."
Injury Updates:
-- Safety Jamal Adams was absent against from practice on Wednesday after injuring his groin in a win over the Dallas Cowboys last month. Carroll said earlier in the day that Adams was expected to practice but the team eventually held him out. The Seahawks will want to see if Adams can practice on Thursday without any lingering issues and put together a couple of days of work to make sure he's able to play this week against the San Francisco 49ers.
-- Running backs Chris Carson (foot), Carlos Hyde (hamstring) and Travis Homer (knee) all did not take part in practice on Wednesday.
Carson's mid-foot sprain is the most significant of the group with the team expected to wait until late in the week to see if he has a chance to play this weekend.
"Something is going on in his foot that we got to see how it goes. We'll be real quiet on Chris until the end of the week and see how he goes on the weekend. So we won't know entirely what's happening until the week is out," Carroll said.
Homer has a bruised knee but is already bouncing back from the issue.
"He's already moving weight way better," Carroll said.
Meanwhile, Hyde had his hamstring tighten up in the late stages of the game on Sunday night.
"We're hoping it was a little more of a cramp than a pull," Carroll said.
-- Defensive end Rasheem Green and guard Phil Haynes returned to practice on Wednesday from the injured reserve list.
Green was injured in the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons and has missed the last five games due to a stinger. He was placed on injured reserve after win over Dallas. He was eligible to return to practice last week but the team waited another week before getting him back on the field.
Haynes has yet to play this season as he was placed on injured reserve before the season opener. With Finney moving on to Cincinnati, Kyle Fuller will take over as the backup center with Haynes being able to add to the depth at guard eventually.
Green and Haynes can practice for up to 21 days before the team needs to add them to the active roster or end their seasons.
Injury Report:
Photo Credit: MIAMI, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 22: Carlos Dunlap #96 of the Cincinnati Bengals rushes the passer against Julie'n Davenport #70 of the Miami Dolphins in the first quarter at Hard Rock Stadium on December 22, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)