The good news is: I guess Quinton Dunbar won’t go to prison? His alleged partner in crime – that guy on the Giants – is being charged with four counts of robbery with a firearm (if convicted, comes with a minimum 10-year sentence). Since he was the alleged mastermind of the incident, I would suspect there isn’t much incentive for him to flip on Dunbar (who appears to be, at worst, an accomplice, if he’s anything at all). Further good news is: Dunbar has been removed from the NFL’s exempt list, which means he’s free to come to Seattle and practice with the Seahawks.
The bad news is: that doesn’t limit the NFL from suspending him anyway.
Jarran Reed was famously suspended six games last year even though he was not convicted nor charged of any crimes. But, of course, he was allegedly involved in a domestic violence incident – which the NFL has repeatedly bungled since the dawn of the sport – so you can see why the NFL might want to bungle things the other way and overcompensate when there’s even a whiff of wrongdoing in matters such as these.
Anyway, that’s the precedent we’re dealing with here. Reed’s suspension arrived something like two years after the alleged incident, so there’s a CHANCE Dunbar’s punishment isn’t meted out until after this season expires (in which case, it’s either some other team’s problem, or it’s used as a bargaining chip to drive down his cost under an extension). There’s also the good fortune that Dunbar didn’t beat up any women in this alleged incident; to my knowledge, the NFL isn’t making it a priority to crack down on players robbing illegal dice game parties (or whatever the shit was happening there). Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure the NFL has mandatory set suspensions for domestic violence cases; I don’t know if those extend to what may have happened here.
The point is, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a six-game suspension. It could be four, or two, or zero! Or, you know, eight, or ten, or the entire season. The NFL is fucked up, they can pretty much do whatever they want.
So, I don’t know if it’s super smart to get our hopes up here. I want to say the Seahawks will have Quinton Dunbar for the majority of the games in the 2020 season (barring injury, of course). Beyond that, I just hope he’s able to overcome any time lost and hit the ground running as soon as he’s inserted into the starting lineup. In case you haven’t heard, the Seahawks are almost assuredly going to win fewer games than they did in 2019, so we’re going to need as much help (and luck) as we can get!
Between that and the likelihood that college football won’t be happening this year, I’m LESS than pleased with how this fall is shaping up.