Seahawks Insider: Seahawks were ‘Hellbent’ on Drafting Darrell Taylor

Darrell Taylor was selected with the 48th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft after the Seattle Seahawks traded up to get him. One Seahawks Insider, NBC's Joe Fann, said the Seahawks were "hellbent on getting him."

Sounds like the #Seahawks spent all day working on a trade to move up and grab Darrell Taylor. He was Seattle's guy and JC/PC were hellbent on getting him.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) April 25, 2020

Taylor's new head coach, Pete Carroll, told him during the selection, "We were waiting for you the whole way through. We’ve been sweating it out. We had to trade to get you. You notice that?"

There were some health concerns for Taylor who was battling a lingering injury, and did not participate at the combine, but the Seahawks were able to answer all of those as well, according to Fann.

The #Seahawks were able to put Darrell Taylor through a full physical w/ their in-house medical team before the travel bans hit.

That played a big part in why Seattle felt so comfortable with Taylor's stress fracture in his shin.
— Joe Fann (@Joe_Fann) April 25, 2020

Taylor spent time with the media after he was picked. He said of the selection, "it was everything I hoped for when they called me, then I seen it on the TV, so it was a very exciting moment I will never forget. "

Taylor said on what the Seahawks want him to come in and do, "they want me to come in and compete. Obviously, they want to put me down and rush the passer and want me to go forward. The most important thing is I come in and compete and help my team win."

Taylor was then asked how he felt his experience at Tennessee would help him come in and play right away with a potentially shortened seasoned.

He said, "I feel like it gives me an advantage to give me time to get my conditioning right and get my body right, and make sure I am as healthy as a horse when I get to my team. Having all of those games played at Tennessee, I think it just gives me an advantage on playing against the best competition and playing against some of the biggest guys in our conference. Most of them got drafted in the first round, so I think that give me a great advantage going into this NFL Draft and being drafted by Seattle."

You can watch Taylor's full media availability below:

DE Darrell Taylor speaks with the media during #SeahawksDraft. https://t.co/Rhcfi39GZF
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) April 25, 2020

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