Carlos Dunlap was a disgruntled veteran edge rusher for the first half of the season. He wasn’t happy with his playing time in Cincinnati and resorted to advertising his frustration by criticizing coaches and posting sensitive team information on social media.
As a result of his antics, Dunlap diminished his trade value and the Bengals only received a seventh-round pick and a backup center for a player that recorded 8 sacks in his final 7 games of the 2019 season.
Given their need for another pass rusher, Dunlap made perfect sense to be a target for the Raiders when the Bengals began shopping him. He played under Paul Guenther from 2014-2017 and in those seasons he was selected to two Pro Bowls and totaled 37 sacks.
So why didn’t the Raiders go get Dunlap?
According to The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, Dunlap wanted to join Guenther in Las Vegas, but the Raiders didn’t want to commit $5 million to sign him.
The decision doesn’t look great now, especially since Dunlap has 3.5 sacks in 3 games with the Seahawks. But the Raiders were probably hoping to “roll over” their unused salary cap from this year so that they can spend more going into the 2021 season. Furthermore, had the Raiders traded for Dunlap, his cap hit next year would have been $14.25 million, which is a lot a 32 year-old pass rusher.
Obviously, the Raiders could use Dunlap this week against Patrick Mahomes, but their reasoning behind the decision to not trade for him makes some sense. It just won’t feel like it on Sunday if the Raiders can’t find their pass rush against the Chiefs.
twitter: @PaulSolvs
twitter: @raidersbeat
We can bring the heat on Mahomes just like we did the first time it’s just whether or not the league allows us to. It does seem like there’s a conspiracy to prevent the Raiders from winning again this weekend. And I don’t care if your conspiracy theorist or not. Tuck rule?
Right?! This covid thing, while real, is beginning to look like the leagues way to rig games. Just sayin