Projecting the Seahawks sack totals: Cry "Havoc!", and let slip the dogs of war
How the Seahawks will dial up the pressure this season
Various sites have predicted that Darrell Taylor will hit double-digits in sacks this season. ESPN's Seth Walder projects Taylor to record seven sacks (actually 6.8, but he's just being mathy). As our fearless leader Lee Vowell wrote earlier, the Hawks saw that the defense needed to be more aggressive. Seattle not only changed their entire defensive line but beefed up their pass rush through the draft. Another notable addition, perhaps even more important, was the arrival of pass rush specialist BT Jordan. I'll take an in-depth look at what he brings to the Hawks attack another time.
As for the draft, the most notable addition is Derick Hall, of course. Remember, we're just talking about the pass rush here. Mike Marsh will get his chances long before the season is done. While I expect Marsh to supplant Mario Edwards as the starter after the bye week, Derick Hall shows every sign of making a big splash from week one of the regular season. The Auburn EDGE with 4.55 speed looked solid against the Vikings, then showed the Cowboys what his game is all about.
Our own Michael Thompson nailed it when he wrote, "The Edge is real". I'm pretty sure he's talking about the Seahawks pass rush, but musically, it's hard to beat David Evans. As for the Hawks pass-rushing game, we've seen more fire and pressure from Mafe and Hall than we've typically seen from Taylor. When you consider how badly Taylor has played against the run in comparison to how good Mafe has looked, that's going to give the Hawks second-year player that many more opportunities to wreak havoc on the opposition.
As Michael-Shawn Dugar wrote for The Athletic (paywall alert, but you really ought to subscribe), the Seahawks pass rush is truly blossoming with the addition of Hall and Tyreke Smith. Along with the continued development of Mafe, Seattle could have their best pass rush group in a decade. Here's what Pete Carroll had to say, as quoted by Dugar:
"“I really like these guys,” coach Pete Carroll said Saturday night. “I don’t mind who is in the game. We have four or five guys that are playing. We like them all. If we can keep them fresh and keep them really fast, that’s going to be a great asset for us.”"