There was a time when Darrell Taylor looked like the future of the Seattle Seahawks' defense. He had the size and the speed to be a dominant pass rusher. In an odd twist of fate, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller compared him to a Dallas Cowboys standout edge before the 2020 draft. That comp was DeMarcus Lawrence, now a star on the Seahawks’ defensive front.
There was one enormous difference between Taylor, who played for Seattle from 2020-2023, and Lawrence, who arrived this season. Lawrence has always been seen as a consummate pro – a practice demon who, even at 33, still goes as hard on Wednesday morning as he does on Sunday afternoon.
The knock on Taylor coming out of college is that is didn’t display that same kind of relentlessness. In that same Bleacher Report piece, Miller noted that Taylor “doesn’t always have a red-hot motor and doesn’t always compete through the snap.” Unfortunately for Seattle, those negatives proved to be accurate once Taylor reached the NFL.
Former top-50 Seattle Seahawks pick may be running of chances
Taylor struggled with injuries that cost him his entire rookie season and a little bit of the second year as well. When he finally had a healthy season in 2022, the former Tennessee Volunteer star gave a tantalizing glimpse of just what he could do.
With Seattle fighting for a playoff spot, Taylor racked up 6.5 sacks in the final six games of the season. For the year, he led the Hawks with 9.5 total sacks.
However, he only managed 26 combined tackles for the year, trailing all other edges who played comparable snaps. It was beginning to look like Taylor was both one-dimensional and streaky.
Still, 9.5 sacks is a solid number, and Seattle hoped he could build on it the following season. He did not. Boye Mafe established himself as the Seahawks’ new top outside rusher, and when healthy, Uchenna Nwosu looked like a very good bookend.
Seattle had seen enough. They traded their former second-round pick to Chicago for a sixth-rounder just before the 2024 season.
Taylor’s first game as a Bear was among the best of his career. Two sacks and eight tackles against Tennessee. It prompted writers to decide Chicago had robbed Seattle blind. 12th Man Rising cautioned Bears fans not to jump the gun. Seahawks’ fans had seen this show before.
Taylor played in 15 more games that season. He managed a single sack and 24 tackles in those remaining games.
Houston, a team that values pass rushers as much as any in the NFL, took a chance on Taylor this past offseason, and once again, NFL analysts thought they may have found a diamond in the rough. If anyone could get max production out of him, surely it would be Texans’ coach DeMeco Ryans.
Once again, it didn’t work out. Taylor has played in just four games for Houston this year. He has been a healthy scratch in the others. Three total tackles and zero sacks are all he has to show. On the rare occasion he suits up for a game, he is mostly a special teamer.
Still, that did not stop his name from coming up at the trade deadline. With no path forward in Houston, would there be another team in need of a pass rusher who might take a chance on an athletic edge who was only 28 years old and had a 9.5 sack season on his resume?
The answer was no. Taylor continues to languish on Houston’s bench. Perhaps injury will give him another chance to show what he can do, but it does seem that time is running out for the pass rusher who led the Seahawks in sacks just three seasons ago, when he was 25 years old, and he indeed looked to be a key part of Seattle’s future.