Cinderella Men: 3 Seahawks that stepped up in 2022

I owe Seahawks’ Darrell Taylor an apology; I wasn’t really familiar with his game.

This season, I have been largely disappointed with the lack of disruption the Seahawks’ defensive line and pass rushers have put forth. It stands to reason, at least to me, that Seattle’s inability to meaningfully affect the backfield has been the main catalyst for all but two, maybe three losses this season.

And of all the defensive line personnel I’ve ragged on this season, I have really put Darrell Taylor through the wringer. Especially in the first two months of the season, I didn’t know what to think of Taylor seemingly giving up on rushing downs, crashing straight into the arms of tackles, and running stunts to seemingly nowhere.

However it happened, though, Taylor figured something out after his soft benching late this season. He’s now second on the team in sacks, trailing only Pro Bowler Uchenna Nwosu, and has been playing with his hair on fire to close out the season.

In fact, his turnaround has been so impressive, he is now outpacing almost every young pass rusher in the league. It’s a shame we haven’t gotten to see much of his newfound prowess alongside Al Woods’ dominance of his gap; otherwise, we might have gotten to see this defense take that next step to be truly good.

As it stands, though, Seattle is still old and slow in the defensive interior. They’re going to have to upgrade there sooner rather than later. But with Taylor now playing up to his potential alongside Nwosu and Boye Mafe making strides to join them, Seattle might already have their edges figured out.