Dunlap has one sack and 13 pressures in 2020 on 186 pass-rushing snaps, which might give you pause with seven games to review, but we have to look at his reduced role and wonder, why? Because the one sack was pretty ridiculous. This was against the Ravens in Week 5, and all Dunlap did was to take Baltimore right tackle Orlando Brown Jr. — all 6-foot-8, 345 pounds of him — and push him into Lamar Jackson. That’s grown-man strength, though Dunlap did get pancaked at the end. But given that Brown outweighs Dunlap by 60 pounds, we’ll give him a relative pass.
And Dunlap isn’t just an edge guy, as he showed against the Colts in Week 6. Here, the Bengals are playing Cover-1, and Dunlap’s responsibility is to take running back Nyheim Hines out to the flat. This he does with some impressive quickness, and the result is a two-yard gain.
If you want effort to the sideline from your defensive end on a run play, this rep against Eagles running back Miles Sanders in Week 3 should suffice on Dunlap’s behalf.
Oh, did we mention that Dunlap stands 6-foot-6 and has 55 batted passes in his career, including two this season? Gardner Minshew already knows.
While Dunlap will bring an authoritative presence to Seattle’s pass-rush, it’s also true that Seattle shouldn’t be done shopping yet. If they can get their hands on another edge-rusher before the November 3 trade deadline — perhaps Dallas’ Aldon Smith (a former Seahawks-killer during his time with the 49ers) or Atlanta’s Takkarist McKinley, they should get that done, too. Matching the 2013 “all-in” on edge guys would be the smartest thing for Seattle’s Super Bowl window.