Grading the Quinton Dunbar, Kyle Allen trades for the Redskins
Quinton Dunbar trade
The Redskins offloaded Quinton Dunbar shortly after reportedly starting to shop him with the first wave of free agency effectively over. And while it was always assumed that they wouldn’t get a premium pick for him, the overall return was disappointing.
Dunbar was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a fifth-round pick. That’s it. For the best cornerback on their roster, the Redskins were able to only get a fifth rounder.
There are obviously some reasons for this. First of all, the Redskins had no leverage in any potential trade, as Dunbar demanded a trade earlier in the offseason because he was unhappy with his non-guaranteed contract for 2020. Secondly, Dunbar had missed 14 games over the course of the past two seasons, so teams trading for him were wary of that.
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Still, Dunbar is one of the better cornerbacks in the game when healthy. He was excellent in coverage last season and given that he’ll only turn 28 in July, he should have plenty of time left in his prime. Sure, the team wasn’t realistically going to get a second-round pick for his services because of the injury concerns and the fact that any team trading for Dunbar would have to either extend him or slap him with the franchise tag next offseason.
But couldn’t they have gotten a fourth-round pick? Or could they have packaged Dunbar with a guy like Trent Williams to get a much earlier pick, perhaps the second-round pick that they covet so much? Maybe not, but it could’ve been worth it to see if a corner-needy team paid a bit more to get him.
Even if the fifth-round pick was the highest that the Redskins could’ve gotten for Dunbar, the team now severely lacks depth and talent at the cornerback position. Kendall Fuller was a great free-agent signing at $10 million a year, but he’s best served to be a No. 2 corner and versatile slot-man for this defense. Currently, he and Fabian Moreau are projected as the outside starters with Fuller moving to the slot in nickel.
Who might that other outside corner be? It’s hard to say. The team still has time to draft a potential starter, but it may be tough to do that while taking Chase Young No. 2 overall and lacking a second-round pick. They may have to poke around the free-agent market and sign one of the top corners remaining to help patch that issue. That’s doable, but they aren’t likely to find a player better than Dunbar no matter what they do.
At the end of the day, the Dunbar trade isn’t the worst deal the team could’ve made. After all, he was sounding off on social media and didn’t seem to buy into the leadership change in Washington, which is a big part of Rivera’s message. But in the end, this deal came up short, so it will get a below-average mark even though the team had good intentions while making it.