4 Seattle Seahawks on the hot seat entering 2023 training camp

Seahawks edge rusher Darrell Taylor

Darrell Taylor is a one-note player currently. He either gets home in the pass rush or he doesn't accomplish much else. He's awful - so far - against the run and he doesn't cover well. He's a third-down edge rusher only until he proves otherwise and his game didn't grow in 2022. Seattle great Cliff Avril said late in the 2022 season that Taylor needs to learn the "understanding (of) how to rush" opposing quarterbacks.

But after two full seasons of playing and one season of sitting out while injured and learning the game, shouldn't Taylor be further along than he seemed at the end of last year? Is this a coaching issue or a Taylor issue? He's physically capable of playing well at times - he had 9.5 sacks in 2022 - but he is incredibly inconsistent in his production. He was great at the beginning of 2021 and go at the end of 2022 but not good at all in between.

Taylor, because he had to miss his rookie year trying to overcome an injury he suffered in college at the University of Tennessee, is a restricted free agent next offseason. The Seahawks can bring him back fairly inexpensively or place a tender on him and another team can sign him and give up a draft pick to Seattle. Seattle has also drafted edge rushers fairly high in the last two drafts so Taylor might already be losing his place in the edge rush rotation.

Or Taylor could take the next step forward this season and get to 12-plus sacks and play the run a lot better. He has the ability to do both those things, but does he have the mindset? Does he just want to be a guy who gets sacks and nothing else? If that's true, he isn't going to be back in Seattle beyond this year. Or he could be a Pro Bowler if he finds some consistency and versatility in 2023.