4 Seahawks who will be playing for their future jobs in Week 18

Seattle needs almost anything from Darrell Taylor

This year was not the one for Darrell Taylor to have his worst year in the NFL. In his two prior seasons (he didn't play in his rookie year because of an injury), Taylor flashed only the ability to chase down quarterbacks. His raw statistics look OK, but when one digs a bit deeper they will see an edge rusher who gets his sacks in bunches but then disappears for many games at a stretch.

Taylor began the year more as a backup as Boye Mafe had overtaken him as the starter opposite Uchenna Nwosu. That plan worked fairly decently until Nwosu got injured in Week 7 and Taylor had to take a lot of Nwosu's reps. One reason, however, that Seattle has been so disastrous against the run in the last 11 games is that Nwosu hasn't been available for 10 of them. Taylor, unfortunately, has been.

Taylor is on pace for career lows in sacks, quarterback hits, quarterback knockdowns, and tackles for loss this year. He will end up with more snaps this season than last and fall just short of his 2021 number. He has never been a good tackler - as an edge rusher who is supposed to help set the edge against the run, he needs to be - but he has missed 17.2 percent of his tackle attempts this year.

Because Taylor missed his rookie year of 2020 with an injury, he is only a restricted free agent this coming offseason. Seattle should put a tender on him so that if he signs elsewhere the Seahawks will pick up a draft pick. But if no team signs him quickly, Taylor should be released before 2024. But then he will probably have 5 sacks in Week 18 and make Seattle think they should keep him for another year.