The next Michael Bennett?

That is asking a lot. Then again, few Seattle fans had ever heard of Bennett before the Seahawks signed him as a free agent in 2013, just as few had never heard of Kerry Hyder Jr. when they agreed to sign him March 23.

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Those of us who find ourselves on periodic patrols to glean the latest on Russell Wilson's off-season soap opera with Seahawks football came across a sizable bread crumb Tuesday.

In his discussing his own return to Seattle -- “It was the (team) culture, the city . . . the transparency from the organization" -- DE Carlos Dunlap told a Zoom conference of local media that Wilson is coming back.

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After complaining publicly in February about teammates for the first time in his career, Russell Wilson created franchise tumult. The Seahawks bosses were sent fluttering about like Vatican cardinals after the pope complained his soup was cold.

They found some hot soup.

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The NFL marketplace has worked in the Seahawks' favor to retain DE Carlos Dunlap. But there's always a personnel cost.

Dunlap, 32, confirmed on Twitter Thursday evening that he has been hired back by Seattle, apparently after finding the free agent market was cool to him. But the Seahawks were forced to go cold on five-year vet DT Jarran Reed, an able run-stuffer who also had 6.5 sacks last season.

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Richard Sherman needs the Seahawks more than the Seahawks need him.

Having said that, it would be entertaining to have him return to play here. Although if I were Pete Carroll, I'd first run it past Russell Wilson. Presuming the two are speaking. Also presuming either is speaking to Sherman. Or, if Carroll plans to trade Wilson ahead the April 29 start of the draft, never mind.

Welcome to the sports soap opera, "Days of Our Seattle Football Lives."

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More help will arrive for the Seahawks offense, this from a familiar source. Somewhat surprisingly, the Seahawks Friday afternoon agreed to terms to bring back four-year vet RB Chris Carson from free agency with a three-year deal for a maximum of $24.6 million, according to the NFL Network.

ESPN reported that the deal voids after two years and $14.6 million, meaning that the third year was added to spread the accounting under the salary cap.

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The return Thursday of C Ethan Pocic suggests that the Seahawks are finished with the chore of fixing the offensive line, the object of controversy in the saga of Russell Wilson's winter of living dangerously. And they may be done with the early phase of free agency that has burned through their $17 million in cash under the salary cap.

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Hard to know where things stand in the clash of the Seahawks titans that has held Seattle sports breathless. But Pete Carroll seems to have sent a couple of peace offerings Wednesday to the opening of Russell Wilson's man-cave, from where nasty snarls have been heard.

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There is a declarative stat emerging from the first two days of NFL free agency.

Russell Wilson is oh-for-four.

The signing Tuesday by Chicago of free agent Andy Dalton, 33, to a one-year, $10 million deal to be the Bears' latest placeholder quarterback, represents the fourth and final team to move on from Wilson's list, to which he would agree to be traded.

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Seems as if everyone these days is looking for a shot in the arm. But if Seahawks fans were looking for anything other than a COVID-19 vaccine Monday, they got nothing.

The two offensive linemen said to be the best available at the start of NFL free agency went elsewhere, leaving unmet Russell Wilson's fervent desire for better bodyguards.

But at least the results maintained a tradition at this time of year as familiar as green beer: Seahawks fans lamenting, "Why can't we have nice things?"

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NFL free agency begins informally Monday, and officially at 1 p.m. Wednesday, when the Seahawks bosses will find the walls closing in, desperate for an artist to draw a cartoon door to facilitate an escape.

So far this off-season, they have just four draft picks, a bit of free cash and the stares of the sports world upon them, seeking to know what they shall do about the demands from Russell Wilson.

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Carlos Dunlap was a great midseason competitive fit for the Seahawks in 2020. But in 2021, the defensive end was going to be a burdensome financial fit. So now he'll become a free agent next week when the NFL's annual talent bazaar gets underway, according to a tweet Monday morning from ESPN.com's Adam Schefter saying Dunlap was cut.

The fate of QB Russell Wilson is not the only heavy lift for the Seahawks off-season. Just the most unexpected one.

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Every day that draws closer to the March 17 start of NFL free agency ratchets up the frenzy around the future of Russell Wilson, compounded by the unclear futures of fellow top-tier QBs.

The latest is a report Friday from the Chicago Tribune that the said the Bears, the apparent least likely of four teams to which Wilson supposedly would accept a trade (also, the Raiders, Cowboys and Saints), "have prioritized making a run" at Wilson, although sources were neither identified nor quoted.

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I've read a few stories during the shutdown about what is called the attention economy. The concept is not directly about sports, but it is about many things in the world that have changed in the 21st century, which includes sports.

The attention economy was first described in 1971, then the phrase was used in the 1990s and early 2000s to describe the economic period that followed, in succession, the agricultural economy, the industrial economy, and the information economy. In 2007, the year Facebook introduced its News Feed and Apple debuted the first smart phone, everything accelerated.

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The staredown between Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson hasn't changed, although The Athletic did a good a job Thursday explaining the history and context of the fraying that has captivated the NFL, and by extension, most of sports.

The pressure on the Seahawks, however, did go up a bit later Thursday. Wilson's agent, Mark Rodgers, told ESPN's Adam Schefter that, while no trade has been requested, there are now just four teams for which he would agree to waive his no-trade clause:

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In terms of enlightenment among among global sports operations, the NBA is generally considered to be the leader of the pack. That doesn't mean they are any less ruthless when it comes to, say, ripping up one of its franchises and replanting it elsewhere, mostly out of spite.

But it usually doesn't miss a chance to be a social-issues trail blazer (not looking at you, Portland), at least when it doesn't cost them money.

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In sorting through the latest NFL parlor game, WDRW  -- What Does Russell Want? -- I remembered an answer to a Zoom question Wilson offered Dec. 17, a few days after the Seahawks beat the New York Jets, 40-3.

That was a high point that seemed to signal a seasonal restoration of a dominant offense, even if the Jets were winless, and spoke well to Seattle's chances in the pending playoffs.

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Just for, um, fun.

Here's a random sampling of pro-team superstars, and how long they lasted with their first major league team, followed by career length. Not saying there's anything immediate happening in Seattle, but suddenly there's a whole lotta WTFs in the air regarding a certain quarterback who has become the town gossip.

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The business of the franchise quarterback is the most compelling personnel theater in the NFL. By extension, it's the most compelling non-game theater in sports, even more than a similar drama with the NBA.

In basketball, superstars dictating their desired employers, and hustling up a superstar buddy or two to join him, has become standard operating procedure. But the smaller number of players makes positive outcomes far more likely in hoops, because football requires 22 starters and 53 total, and has separate units for offense and defense.

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If the panicky desperation of Patrick Mahomes Sunday didn't remind you of Russell Wilson in recent years barely running ahead of the bulls of the NFL, you may have just moved to the area in the past month.

But the biggest local takeaway in Tampa Bay's surprising 31-9 evisceration of Kansas City (box) in Super Bowl LV was the echo from 2014 and Super Bowl XLVIII: In pinnacle NFL games, a great defense pops off rivets of a good offense.

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