Darrell Taylor was capable of so much more for the Seattle Seahawks. He flashed massive potential to chase down opposing quarterbacks and got as many as 9.5 sacks in 2022. The issue was that he was hugely inconsistent in that aspect and he couldn't do much else.
Taylor was awful against the run as he either refused to or was incapable of setting a hard edge in run defense. Taylor might have bulked up this offseason, but he was never strong enough to hold his own against pulling offensive linemen. Possibly he knew edge rushers made money with sacks instead of solid run defense, but Taylor's sacks only came in spurts as well.
Taylor's one-note ability, and therefore lack of positional flexibility, made him a poor fit in head coach Mike Macdonald's defense. The edge rusher was also being pushed down the depth chart by the excellent play of Derick Hall in training camp and in preseason games. Undrafted free agent Nelson Ceaser also looked quite good. Hall and Ceaser made Taylor far more expendable.
Seahawks trade Darrell Taylor to the Chicago Bears
On Friday, Seattle traded Taylor to the Chicago Bears for a 2025 sixth-round choice, according to the NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. A sixth-round pick also speaks volumes about how other teams saw Taylor's value. No team was willing to give up much to add him.
Seattle now has seven picks again in the 2025 draft as they will have two sixth-rounders, but no fifth-rounder. The Seahawks have a pick in every other round.
Seattle will only have $20,000 in dead cap by training Taylor. He was going to be owed $3,116,000 after receiving a tender from Seattle this offseason. For a team that was tight against the cap, Seattle gets a bit more breathing room and should have close to $11 million after the trade is made official.
Taylor finishes his Seahawks career with 21.5 sacks in three seasons but those only came in 20 of the 49 games he played. He got his pressures in bunches and he could not be counted on on a weekly basis. Seattle is better off without Taylor and Derick Hall getting more reps will help prove that.
