Seahawks DE Carlos Dunlap Re-Signed After Wilson Pledged to Stay

Carlos Dunlap loves Seattle and everything that comes with it, on and off the field. The salary cap casualty wanted to re-sign with the Seahawks all along, and when the Seahawks got serious about him re-upping with the team, the entire process took less than 24 hours, but there was one small thing he was hoping to get ironed out: "Hey, Russ, you staying or what?"

Dunlap said, “I did ask him if, obviously, he was going to be with us. Because if I’m coming back, I’m coming back because I see him as my quarterback and the rest of the team. I want to pick up where we left off (in 2020),” the two-time Pro Bowler DE said of Wilson.

“And he told me that he’s with us and that he’s here to stay. And he said, ‘Let’s go Hawks!’"

Dunlap signed a two-year deal worth $16.6 million with $8.5 million guaranteed.

“These words are not his words, verbatim. They are my explanation of how I interpreted what he said.”

Dunlap’s explanation is the exact medicine Seahawks fans have been hoping for to cure the rumor mill maladies. All of this off-season noise is just that: noise. Once the posturing is done and it's time to lead, I'll take what Dunlap said Wilson said, over what Wilson says to anyone outside the Seahawks locker room.

Dunlap had 4-1/2 sacks in his first six games for Seattle beginning in early November. He had two game-ending sacks to clinch Seahawks victories against Arizona and at Washington. It's an understatement to say Dunlap was worth what Seattle dealt to Cincinnati to get him and his contract.

The club cut Dunlap last month to save $14 million against their 2021 salary cap. They re-signed him on March 25th and inked veteran pass rusher Kerry Hyder, most recently with San Francisco, who had 8 and 1/2 sacks in 2020 for the 49ers.

The combined cap charge this year that will be less than half what Dunlap’s would have been for 2021 under his previous contract. The plan for Hyder is to play him inside on passing downs, think Michael Bennett in his prime years ago.