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Brady HendersonESPN
Defensive end Carlos Dunlap agreed to a reworked contract as part of his trade to the Seattle Seahawks, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.
The restructure allowed the Seahawks to fit Dunlap’s contract fit under the salary cap and offers the 31-year-old Dunlap a potential path to free agency after this season.
Dunlap, whom the Seahawks acquired from the Cincinnati Bengals last week for backup offensive lineman B.J. Finney and a seventh-round pick, was making $7.8 million in base salary this season as part of the extension he signed in 2018. That would have meant the Seahawks, who are barely below the salary cap, owed him roughly $4.59 million in base salary for the remainder of 2020.
According to Yates, Dunlap is instead owed $2 million for the remainder of the season and now has a $3 million roster bonus due on the fifth day of the 2021 league year, which is in March. If the Seahawks cut him before the bonus is due, he would become an unrestricted free agent.
Dunlap is currently under contract through 2021 and is due to make a nonguaranteed $10.1 million base salary next season, according to ESPN’s Roster Management System.
By restructuring Dunlap’s contract, the Seahawks avoided having to rework one of their existing contracts to free up immediate space, something general manager John Schneider does not like to do because of the potential dead money it creates down the road. They also didn’t have to trade another player before the deadline to shed salary.
The Seahawks gained additional cap relief by including Finney and the remainder of his guaranteed $2.5 million salary for 2020 in the Dunlap trade.