Seahawks not great offseason gets worse with Quinton Dunbar issue

The Seahawks thought they had a big win this offseason by trading for cornerback Quinton Dunbar. But now Dunbar has been charged with armed robbery.

The Seahawks offseason has been not great. Seattle is still looking for a top-end pass rusher but now seems to have squelched most of their cap space leaving little room for signed an edge rusher, like re-signing Jadeveon Clowney. Seattle thought they made a big splash by trading for Quinton Dunbar. But on Thursday, Dunbar was accused of armed robbery and has been asked to turn himself into the police.

The charge against Quinton Dunbar is that he and Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker and one other man robbed men at a cookout for about $12,000 in money and $25,000 in watches in Miramar County, Florida on early Thursday morning. Baker had a gun, but it is unclear if Dunbar did. Three witnesses on the scene stated Dunbar was not carrying a gun while another one said he was.

The problem for the Seahawks is that in trading for Quinton Dunbar they appear to have clearly been thinking last year’s starter at cornerback Tre Flowers was not meeting expectations and decided to get Dunbar to improve the secondary. Dunbar was the second-highest rated cornerback in the NFL in 2019, according to Pro Football Focus. And the trade for Dunbar was one of the very few seemingly important moves Seattle has made this offseason.

Seattle’s draft choices have been met with a lot of skepticism as they may have overreached for some players, like edge rusher Darrell Taylor, and not filled important needs overall. While first-round pick Jordyn Brooks might be brilliant, there really isn’t any specific pick the Seahawks made where 12s and national pundits were thinking, “Future Hall of Famer.”

Seattle has still to sign a player that is an edge rusher with the potential to get 10 or more sacks. The Seahawks signed Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa, of course, but if those players can get to 7 sacks it would be considered a victory.

Quinton Dunbar would make the secondary better. If one assumes that the Seahawks get the same kind of pressure, or slightly better, on opposing quarterbacks in 2020 than they did in 2019 then the secondary being better in 2020 helps make up for that. Dunbar would have been (will be?) a big reason Seattle makes it back to the playoffs in 2020. But his eventual arrest puts his career and the Seahawks postseason hopes in jeopardy.