One of the 49ers top competitors in the NFC West depleted their pass rush group in a trade on Friday.
The Seattle Seahawks traded edge rusher Darrell Taylor to the Chicago Bears for a sixth-round pick on Friday, according to a report by Tom Pelissero of NFL.com. Taylor was a second-round pick by the Seahawks back in 2020 and he has consistently ranked among the team’s leaders in sacks throughout his career. An explosive athlete, Taylor has recorded 21.5 sacks in 49 career NFL games. Limitations to other parts of his game, however, particularly defending the run, limited Taylor to 13 career starts and explain why he was not valued on the trade market in the way one might expect for a young player with his sack numbers.
Taylor missed his entire rookie season with a stress fracture in his leg, but has missed just one regular-season game since. While the Seahawks are clearly confident they will be able to replace Taylor’s contributions, his numbers were quite good for a pass-rush specialist. Despite playing just 44% of Seattle’s defensive snaps last season, Taylor recorded 28 tackles, 8 quarterback hits, 7 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and a pass defended.
Seattle has invested quite heavily in their defensive front in recent years. They traded for and subsequently re-signed defensive tackle Leonard Williams last season and signed nose tackle Johnathan Hankins this offseason. Furthermore, the Seahawks used second-round picks on linebackers in 2022 (Boye Mafe) and 2023 (Derick Hall).
Whether the Seattle Seahawks or Los Angeles Rams pose the bigger threat to the San Francisco 49ers chances at winning the NFC West remains to be seen. However, any move that sends a productive role player out of the division for future draft capital and some minor salary cap savings is a minor win for the Niners’ chances this season.