The Seattle Seahawks need some fixing. Thankfully, they have hired head coach Mike Macdonald and he has been near-genius in leading the Baltimore Ravens defense the last two seasons. He should be able to get Seattle's defense to be better as well.
But Seattle also has roster decisions to make, and not just players to release to create cap room. Roster spots themselves are extremely valuable. Why keep a player, no matter his salary, if another player is capable of helping the team more?
Macdonald and his mostly new coaching staff will bring fresh eyes to Seattle's roster. Some players need to be cut or not re-signed who were on the 2023 roster. Three of those players are as follows.
Seattle Seahawks receiver Dee Eskridge
Eskridge was very likely a bust before 2023, but he had either been injured or ill-used in Seattle's offense. There was the hope with a little health that maybe he could be productive to some degree. But he started the season on a six-game suspension for a domestic issue and when he returned he could not do anything as a receiver yet again. But then something maddening happened. Seattle found Eskridge's one special skill.
That skill was that Eskridge was good at returning kickoffs. Against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 12 of 2023, he returned four kicks for 140 yards, an average of 35 yards a kick return. One return went for 66 yards. Finally, Seattle learned how the third-year player might help them in the future. But then, no.
The last game Eskridge would play this past season was against the 49ers and he came down with another injury. He was inactive for the four games after San Francisco and then simply did not play in the final two. In three years, Eskridge has 17 catches for 122 yards and has proven to be a huge miss in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft.
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.
Seahawks linebacker Devin Bush
Bush doesn't even feel like a Seahawk. He played his first four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was decent for one year before getting hurt. He signed with Seattle last offseason after Pittsburgh gave up on him. He appeared to be OK against the run but just would never be good at pass rush. That was OK for Seattle was the hope because Seattle didn't expect high sack totals from its off-ball linebackers.
But as things turned out, Pittsburgh was right. Bush simply is not very good. He started three games in 2023 and missed just 5.1 percent of his tackle attempts, but he recorded zero quarterback pressures. Moreover, he did not seem fast enough to catch up to running backs who ran around tackle. Bush did not miss many tackles because the ones he attempted were ball-carriers who were right in front of him.
Bush saved his worst play for the last game of the season, though. After Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray had scrambled out and had clearly started his slide to give himself up, Bush came up and hit him which temporarily caused Murray to be injured. The tackle was a cheap shot. Worse, Bush celebrated the hit like he had done something good.
Thankfully, Bush is a free agent this offseason. Mike Macdonald should not want players like Bush on his team but instead players capable of helping the team on the field and also leading by example for the young guys on the team. Bush is neither.