3 most important Seahawks for the future on the current roster

Seahawks edge rusher Darrell Taylor

Here’s an odd fact. Though Taylor has been a Seahawk for two seasons (he missed his rookie year), he is older than DK Metcalf. This is more about how Metcalf is still so young and needs to be signed to a long-term deal, but I digress. Because based on the potential Taylor flashed in 2021, which was for all intents and purposes, his rookie year, he will need to be signed to a long-term deal too after the 2023 season.

But we aren’t there yet. Potential is all about the future and the future is something none of us can predict. Maybe Taylor comes back in 2022 and is even better, possibly much better, than he was in 2021. Let’s hope so. Because while he had 6.5 sacks last year, 4 of those came in the first five weeks of the season. He needs to be more consistent and more productive over the course of the year.

But he has a natural bend as a pass rusher that should allow him to be not just good but great. What likely stunted his 2021 season was that veteran offensive linemen were adjusting to what Taylor was trying to do but for someone like Taylor who hadn’t played a down in the league before 2021, he didn’t know how to re-adjust.

That said, Taylor will be entering his second season of real football and he should be smarter and with all the raw skill he had last year. Taylor could get to 10 or more sacks this year. A player of Taylor’s ability should be a fixture on the Seahawks defense for the next 5 years or so. But he has to prove in 2022 that the potential he flashed in 2021 is real.