Edge rusher Carlos Dunlap elected to sign with the Chiefs after taking a visit with the organization last week.
Entering his 13th season, Dunlap spent the vast majority of his career with the Bengals before Cincinnati traded him to Seattle in 2020. After another season with the Seahawks in 2021, Dunlap hit free agency in search of the right situation.
In his Thursday press conference, Dunlap said he had a couple of other teams interested in signing him. But he chose the Chiefs in large part because of the playing opportunities the club presented.
“This is my 13th year,” Dunlap said. “I’ve done it 12 different ways, so I wanted to make sure I made an educated decision and went with a team where there was mutual interest in my ability to play and how I’ll be used and the opportunity to win. Because at this point, I’ve done a lot of football. One of the things I have not done is, I haven’t gone over 100 sacks. I haven’t won a playoff game. And I haven’t, clearly, won a Super Bowl. So those are things I would like to do at this point in my career. And I’m in hot pursuit and I feel like this team gives me a great opportunity, the best opportunity to do it.”
Dunlap, who has 96.0 career sacks, also said the Chiefs don’t just want him to be a pass-rushing specialist, which added to the team’s appeal. Though he is 33, Dunlap said he doesn’t want to be limited to playing in known-passing situations as many edge rushers tend to do when they get older.
“I like to eat whatever you put on the table,” Dunlap said. “I could say it just like that, yeah, first and second downs are just important to me as third down. Obviously, I’ve done many things on third down, closed many games on third down. But I feel like if you impact the game early on first and second down, you can put the game away even sooner. And clearly, these guys have lit up the scoreboard a million and one times. So I look forward to contributing my strengths to what they already do well out here.”
Having been in the league since 2010, Dunlap has recorded at least 6.0 sacks in each season since 2012. His career low was 4.5 in 2011.
In 2021, Dunlap recorded 8.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, 14 quarterback hits, and seven passes defensed while playing 38 percent of the Seahawks’ defensive snaps.