The Seattle Seahawks will likely have to head back to the drawing board in the secondary. After acquiring Quinton Dunbar from the Redskins for a fifth round pick, the Seahawks looked set to head into 2020 with Shaquill Griffin, Dunbar, Quandre Diggs and Bradley McDougald rounding out the defensive backfield, with Ugo Amadi at the nickel.
Now, however, things look a lot murkier after an arrest warrant was issued for Dunbar, stemming from an accusation of armed robbery on Wednesday evening at a party in Florida.
There are far too few details to know what Dunbar’s status with the league will be by the time the 2020 season begins, but there’s certainly a chance he ends up out of the league altogether, or at least not on the Seahawks.
If that is the case, the team will need to find more help in the secondary.
Tre Flowers was the team’s starter last year, and they could certainly turn to him to start once again in 2020 – after all, the unit of Flowers, Griffin, Diggs and McDougald was solid last year in the brief time they were all together.
If the team wants to look for a new starter, or at least someone to really challenge Flowers in training camp, one of the few options on the open market who fits the team’s length requirements at cornerback (32 inch arms) is former Jets corner Trumaine Johnson.
Seahawks fans might remember Johnson from his time with the Rams from 2012-2017, and others might even remember him as a stud at the University of Montana before that.
Johnson possesses 33 1/4 inch arms, elite ball-hawking abilities (23 career interceptions) and plenty of starting experience in the NFL.
He’s also injury prone, having only played 17 games in the past two years with the Jets after signing a massive five-year, $72.5 million dollar deal after the 2017 season.
Johnson also sparred with the coaching staff in New York, resulting in a benching, and while he is a playmaker he struggled with ill-timed penalties and lapses in coverage that resulted in big plays.
The Jets released Johnson and his huge contract earlier this offseason, and while he certainly comes with his baggage, the appeal of a lengthy corner with his playmaking ability is easy to see – and the Seahawks have never been afraid to take gambles on guys with checkered pasts, like Mychal Kendricks and Josh Gordon.
Whether Johnson is worth the risk or not will depend on how much money he is demanding. The Seahawks, if they release Dunbar, will have just under $20 million in cap space, not accounting for Geno Smith or the rookie contracts.
Johnson would need to be willing to take a deal with little guaranteed money and incentives in order for a deal to make sense for the Seahawks, and it’s unclear if he will be willing to do that.
Still, Johnson is at least worth kicking the tires on, with Dunbar’s situation likely thinning out Seattle’s depth in the secondary.
[lawrence-related id=61228]