3 Seattle Seahawks we can safely call busts after the 2023 season

Seattle edge rusher Darrell Taylor

Taylor was also a second-round pick but in the 2020 draft. He missed his rookie season with a leg injury, one he appears to have sustained while still in college. That was not such a big deal, though, as Taylor should have been gaining some weight and working on his technique in order to help the Seahawks beginning in 2021. Instead, Taylor just seemed to completely take his first year off as he stayed slim and his technique was poor.

The worst part about Taylor's game is that he has clear and high-end potential but he remains so inconsistent in terms of his pass rush and he does not seem to work on his run defense ever. Plus, he either gets home on his pressures or he doesn't do much at all. He had 9.5 sacks in 2022, for instance, but he only had 20 total pressures. Even then his sacks only occurred sporadically. In Weeks 1 through 12, Taylor had 3 sacks but had 6.5 between Week 13 through 18.

That is how Taylor has been his entire career. If one were to look at his raw numbers without knowing his consistent production, one might think he was good. But Taylor will go weeks without doing anything and then collect a few sacks over two games. An NFL edge rusher has to be much more consistent to be worthy of a high number of reps.

In 2023, Taylor got more snaps than in 2022 (522 to 485), but he produced less. He finished with 5.5 sacks and just 27 total pressures (he had 36 in his first full season of 2021). He also missed 15.2 percent of his tackle attempts. He graded out, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required) as the third-worst run defender among edge rushers. Sadly, though, Seahawks fans have gotten used to Taylor's impotent run defense.