Seattle Seahawks: Can Carlos Dunlap trade spark hibernating defense?

The Seattle Seahawks have traded for disgruntled pass-rusher Carlos Dunlap from the Bengals.

On the heels of their first loss of the 2020 NFL season, the Seattle Seahawks are making moves to try and fix some of the issues. The biggest of those problems has been the pass-rush. So, naturally, Seattle has gone to get one of the best on the trade market, landing Carlos Dunlap from the Cincinnati Bengals on Wednesday.

First reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the deal is expected to be official by 4 p.m. ET. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport later added that the Seahawks will send offensive lineman B.J. Finney along with a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Bengals.

Seattle’s offense has been humming this season behind MVP candidate Russell Wilson. And at 5-1, they are well on track to make the playoffs. Having said that, the Seahawks defense has forced the offense to need to be as good as they’ve been to win games. Even the Jamal Adams trade hasn’t changed that.

With the addition of the veteran Dunlap, who had expressed his immense frustrations with the Bengals publicly, the hope is that he can give the pass rush some life after it’s struggled immensely this year.

Does Carlos Dunlap give a struggling Seattle Seahawks defense a spark?

According to Football Outsiders, the Seattle Seahawks defense has been an actual problem. They rank 28th in total Defensive DVOA and are 30th in Pass Defense DVOA through the first seven games of the season. While their secondary has been banged up, Adams in particular, the fact that the defensive backs are asked to cover for longer given the lack of a pass rush has been a bigger limiting factor.

The 31-year-old Dunlap has clearly been unhappy with the Bengals this year and his production (or lack thereof) has reflected that. He has just 1.0 sack and two tackles for loss on the season. Having said that, he’s been productive recently in his career, despite eclipsing the 30-year mark.

Dunlap has at least 7.5 sacks in each of the last seven seasons prior to the 2020 campaign and put up 9.0 sacks with 13 tackles for loss in 2019. He’s never been the best edge rusher in the league but he’s been a consistently productive player, no matter how good or bad the Bengals have been, throughout his career.

The big question now is if he can give the Seahawks defense the spark it needs. It’s hard to say that he’s going to be an instant game-changer the way a superstar potentially could be. Having said that, having at least one proven pass-rusher is a viable improvement for Seattle on that side of the ball.

Again, the Seahawks are 5-1 on the season as they make this trade for Carlos Dunlap. They have survived their defensive woes quite admirably. Subsequently, the newcomer doesn’t need to be someone who makes them a top-10 defense, just someone who can make them marginally better to give the offense a bit more of a leash. Given his track record and the fact that he should be motivated by getting out of Cincy, the safe bet is on Dunlap providing exactly that for Seattle.