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Carlos Dunlap missing Bengals OTA’s is overreaction

By Travis Steffen

NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 12: Defensive End Carlos Dunlap #96 of the Cincinnati Bengals in a game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on November 12, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - NOVEMBER 12: Defensive End Carlos Dunlap #96 of the Cincinnati Bengals in a game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on November 12, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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As the Cincinnati Bengals continue into their second week of voluntary OTA workouts, Carlos Dunlap has yet to join his teammates.

The Cincinnati Bengals are hosting their second week of voluntary OTA workouts this week. The key word in that sentence is voluntary. While teams would like to have all their players in attendance, it’s not uncommon for top names to not join in voluntary workouts around the league. The media, on the other hand, wants to make headlines out of players not being there as big news and something that fans should worry about.

Given the fact that players have already suffered injuries in OTA workouts around the league like Los Angeles Chargers tight end Hunter Henry who will be out for the entire season due to a torn ACL. Dunlap has been working out on his own during this time and there has been no comment from his camp on what the “holdout” means.

Mandatory camps don’t start till next week in which we will see what happens and if it will be something to be concerned about. If Dunlap doesn’t show up for mandatory minicamps, then fans can start to wonder what is going on. Until then, it seems outrageous to freak out over a player not attending when this happens every season with every team.

The conversation gets brought up with Dunlap entering the final year of his current contract with Cincinnati. He is expected to make $7 million this season after losing out on $300,000 in workout bonuses for missing camps. Dunlap and defensive tackle Geno Atkins are both in a contract season looking to earn another payday. Vice President Troy Blackburn talked with Bengals.com Geoff Hobson earlier this offseason about the Bengals desire to reach a contract extension with both players this offseason.

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With the regular season not until September, there’s no reason for fans to lose sleep over their top defensive linemen not having new deals in May. There will be a period of time between OTA’s and training camp that both the team and players will have more time to sit down and discuss these contracts. It’s a busy time for both parties and the contracts will likely get done sometime around training camp if it happens this offseason.

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