Seahawks should trade Darrell Taylor to beef up the interior defensive line
The Seattle Seahawks need to add depth to the interior defensive line and have an excess of talent on the outside. Their best move is to trade the inconsistent Darrell Taylor while his value is at its peak. I like him, but his game doesn't warrant keeping him above his potential replacements.
The Seahawks expected a lot when they made Tennessee Volunteer Darrell Taylor their second pick in the 2020 draft. They had every reason for those high expectations. He was remarkably consistent over his junior and senior seasons at Neyland Stadium, with at least 10 tackles for a loss and eight sacks each year. In 2018 he ranked fifth in sacks in the ultra-competitive SEC and ranked second in 2019. He even showed his versatility by breaking up four passes in his senior campaign.
The only reason Taylor fell to the second round was that he needed to recover from surgery for an injury suffered in college. He missed the Seahawks entire 2020 season. Playing on 44 percent of the defense's snaps in his defacto rookie year of 2021, he racked up 6.5 sacks, 13 QB hits, and 7 tackles for a loss.
This is the right time for the Seahawks to move on from Darrell Taylor
The following season saw a bump in his numbers, despite playing almost 60 fewer snaps. Taylor made 9.5 sacks while mirroring his 13 QB hits. He did get one more tackle for a loss than the previous season and forced four fumbles. So why do I believe the Seahawks should trade him?
Those nine-and-a-half sacks really stand out, and in a way, that's the problem with Taylor. His pass rush represents, oh, I'd say 80 percent of his value. I'm not saying that 9.5 sacks aren't a big deal; of course, they are. He tied for the team lead with Uchenna Nwosu. But even his pass rush game is maddeningly inconsistent.
In 2021 he had 4 of his 6.5 sacks in the first five games of the season. From games 6 through 17, he recorded just 2.5. He flipped the pattern last year as he had just three sacks in the first 11 games, Yes, he caught fire late with 6.5 sacks in the final six games, including 2.5 against the Jets. But are those five or six explosive games worth the ten where he's just taking up a roster spot?