Seahawks 90-Man Countdown: EDGE Darrell Taylor - Primed For Monster Season?

Darrell Taylor has been one of the team's most productive pass rushers over the past two seasons, but in order to reach his immense potential and earn a second contract with the Seattle Seahawks, he will need to demonstrate a more well-rounded game in 2023.

Author:
Corbin K. Smith
Publish date:
Jul 18, 2023 2:15 PM EDT

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Seattle Seahawks

With the calendar flipping to July and offseason activities in the rearview mirror, the Seattle Seahawks will open training camp at the VMAC later this month, officially ushering in the 2023 season.

To celebrate the new incoming season, we'll be detailing every member of the Seahawks 90-man roster over the next several weeks, exploring best and worst case scenarios and what to expect from each player entering the 2023 campaign.

Darrell Taylor, EDGE

Height/Weight: 6-4, 267 pounds

2022 Stats: 26 tackles, 9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles

Breaking into the league as a second-round pick out of Tennessee, Taylor missed the entirety of his rookie season recovering from a broken leg suffered late in his final college season. But despite the difficult start, he made it back onto the field for offseason activities the following spring and quickly carved out a rotational role chasing down quarterbacks, racking up 6.5 sacks while playing in 16 games in 2021. Coming off a successful pseudo-rookie campaign, he earned a starting spot across from free agent signing Uchenna Nwosu coming out of camp last August and looked poised for a breakout season.

However, while he did register a sack and a forced fumble in Seattle's first three games, Taylor struggled mightily as a run defender with opponents scheming to attack him off the edge. Relegated to a situational rushing duty, the team replaced him in the starting lineup with Darryl Johnston and eventually veteran Bruce Irvin and rookie Boye Mafe took a large portion of his snaps. Even with the diminished role, he did flourish on passing downs, amassing 6.5 sacks in the team's final eight regular season games to nearly hit double digits in the category for the first time in his career.

Best-Case Scenario: With another strong offseason under his belt, Taylor comes to camp determined to prove he's ready to be an every down defender and shows substantial improvement setting the edge against the run, helping him win back his starting job and turn in a career year with 13.5 sacks and 58 quarterback pressures to anchor a much-improved defensive front.

Worst-Case Scenario: Still getting physically overwhelmed by bigger tackles and playing himself aggressively out of his gap responsibility too often against the run, Taylor gradually loses snaps to rookie Derick Hall, Mafe, and Tyreke Smith, leading to a disappointing season with only five sacks in a limited specialist role and complicating Seattle's decision with him as a restricted free agent in March.

What to Expect in 2023: From a talent standpoint, Taylor has the athleticism and physical tools to be a disruptive game changer for the Seahawks and he's flirted with stardom in brief spurts during his first two NFL seasons. From Week 10 on last season, even while only rushing the passer 107 times in the last eight games in a diminished role, he finished tied for ninth among edge defenders in sacks, posting an insane 6.5 percent sack rate during that span.

Unfortunately, Taylor has yet to demonstrate that he can be even a marginal run defender on a consistent basis, frequently finding himself out of position and missing tackles. This has put a cap on his ceiling by forcing the Seahawks to deploy him as a pass rush specialist, limiting his overall opportunities to make an impact harassing quarterbacks. Entering a critical year with restricted free agency on the horizon and plenty of money at stake, if he can finally take a step forward in the run defense department and not be a complete liability in that aspect, he should be the favorite to start again with a chance to emerge as one of the NFC's best young pass rushers.

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