Is Jamal Adams or Carlos Dunlap the Seahawks’ best acquisition of 2020?

The Seahawks have added two big-name players to the defense for the 2020 season at very different costs and both have made huge impacts for Seattle while on the field.

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After star quarterback Russell Wilson told ESPN at the Pro Bowl that the Seahawks needed to acquire superstars during the offseason, many were underwhelmed with the players Seattle signed and traded for. That changed later, though, as the Seahawks made the biggest trade of the offseason, landing All-Pro safety for Jamal Adams from the New York Jets at the end of July.

Adams, 25, cost the Seahawks quite a bit, as Seattle shipped two first-round picks, a third-round pick and starting safety Bradley McDougald for Adams and a fourth-round pick. Adams has missed some time with injury, but he’s added a big boost to Seattle’s pass rush as he leads the team with 5.5 sacks in six games. For comparison’s sake, Rasheem Green led the Seahawks in sacks with four in 2019.

But Adams wasn’t the only notable defender the Seahawks would get, as Seattle traded backup guard B.J. Finney and a seventh-round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for veteran defensive Carlos Dunlap ahead of the NFL trade deadline. In three games with the Seahawks, Dunlap, 31, has 3.5 sacks, including the game-clincher on fourth down against the Arizona Cardinals in a Week 11 win.

So between those two, which has been the better acquisition for the Seahawks and their defense? Jake Heaps and Stacy Rost of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake and Stacy discussed just that.

“My answer is going to be Jamal Adams,” Rost said. “That is, in part, shaded by Carlos Dunlap’s age and the length of his contract, knowing and assuming that the Seahawks are going to extend Adams, who is a guy they would never have a shot at in the draft and he’s just 25 years old.”

Rost said she’d have liked to see Adams do more this season because of what it cost to get him, but that injuries derailed that to a certain extent. Still, she said the long-term potential of that trade has Adams edging out Dunlap in her eyes.

“If I’m giving up two first-round picks, I want you to be the difference between a win and a loss, and so far, he’s been hurt and sidelined and he hasn’t been able to do that, but right now I have to go with Jamal Adams because the ceiling is just sky high with him,” she said.

Heaps, a former NFL quarterback, agreed with Rost and chose Adams, mainly because Adams figures to be a cornerstone of this team for years to come. Heaps also thinks Adams’ best play with the Seahawks is ahead of him.

“I think as he gets more and more comfortable in this system, as he gets more and more comfortable learning how to play with (linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright) it is going to be a better and better fit,” he said. “And that’s why I have higher optimism after watching them play against the Arizona Cardinals that they are going to start figuring this out and they are going to start playing better football.”

Adams has made most of his impact as a pass rusher and even after missing four games, he leads the Seahawks in sacks, but Heaps wants to see Adams do something that many Seahawks fans grew accustomed to with Kam Chancellor manning the strong safety position.

“With Jamal Adams, the one thing you have not seen yet as a safety is making that crushing hit in coverage,” Heaps said. “Making that crushing, impactful hit, that game statement-type of hit, that is letting everybody know on the opposing sideline that if you’re playing with the Seattle Seahawks, you’d better buckle your chinstrap up because it’s going to be a long 60 minutes.”

And even though both Heaps and Rost chose Adams, Heaps said it wasn’t that easy of a pick.

“Carlos Dunlap doesn’t make this an easy answer because his impact coming here to Seattle so far has been tremendous,” he said. “Three-and-a-half sacks in three games, he has five tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits. He has been everything and some that the Seahawks have just hoped that they could capture from this 31-year-old disgruntled defensive end that they acquired from Cincinnati. And at his length at 6-feet-6-inches (with) long arms and all that, he brings a different element.”

Listen to 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake and Stacy podcasts at this link.

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