Darrell Taylor

[returnofjakedog]

Lots of speculation on this guy regarding his health and his ability. I did find this article which looks into these issues, and also his position.

Exploring Darrell Taylor's Role in 2021 Following Seahawks' Pass Rush Frenzy

In a matter of a week’s time, the Seahawks have built arguably the best pass-rushing unit they’ve had in nearly half a decade. What had been a great weakness of

www.si.com

It considers the possibilty that Taylor will be shifted to a hybrid SAM LB and LEO.
I find this interesting because I was wondering who/how the starting LB position with Wright apparently (and rather sadly) is gone (still crossing my fingers that K.J. somehow returns).
So I guess the question is if Brooks shifts over to K.J.'s spot, and Taylor would fill in as a SAM/LEO hybrid? Or do they try Taylor in K.J.'s spot (the article notes that Taylor is effective in jamming and covering TEs)? ........or something else?

Am I missing, or incorrect about anything here?

 

[Screamin12th]

Lots of speculation on this guy regarding his health and his ability. I did find this article which looks into these issues, and also his position.

Exploring Darrell Taylor's Role in 2021 Following Seahawks' Pass Rush Frenzy

In a matter of a week’s time, the Seahawks have built arguably the best pass-rushing unit they’ve had in nearly half a decade. What had been a great weakness of

www.si.com

It considers the possibilty that Taylor will be shifted to a hybrid SAM LB and LEO.
I find this interesting because I was wondering who/how the starting LB position with Wright apparently (and rather sadly) is gone (still crossing my fingers that K.J. somehow returns).
So I guess the question is if Brooks shifts over to K.J.'s spot, and Taylor would fill in as a SAM/LEO hybrid? Or do they try Taylor in K.J.'s spot (the article notes that Taylor is effective in jamming and covering TEs)? ........or something else?

Am I missing, or incorrect about anything here?

I was thinking DE but he can fill a temp role of a Rush linebacker because he is athletic enough but not a full time Linebacker. At 6 foot 4 and 270 pounds he is a little heavy for Linebacker in our defense.

 

[returnofjakedog]

I was thinking DE but he can fill a temp role of a Rush linebacker because he is athletic enough but not a full time Linebacker. At 6 foot 4 and 270 pounds he is a little heavy for Linebacker in our defense.

The LEO is a hybrid DE/LB so that would fit specific to the Seahawk's D. He seems towards the large size even for that role. However I have seen him listed as low as 265 lbs, and Avril played it at 260 lbs and Clemons at 255 lbs so it isn't an unfathomable stretch.

The SAM suggestion was more of a surprise as he certainly seems a bit large for that role.

I believe the implication is that Taylor is athletically freakish enough to possibly pull off jamming, then dropping back to cover TEs. If he is able to do this effectively then such options as Adams playing on his side becomes a massize headache of confusion for defenses. Maybe drop Dunlap inside next to them on a passing down? The possibilities are intriguing.

It does need to be considered that this was before the injury and many have speculated he won't reach his large potential because of the severity. But no one seems to really know what his current status actually is. Hopefully he at least becomes a solid contributer.

 

[Screamin12th]

The LEO is a hybrid DE/LB so that would fit specific to the Seahawk's D. He seems towards the large size even for that role. However I have seen him listed as low as 265 lbs, and Avril played it at 260 lbs and Clemons at 255 lbs so it isn't an unfathomable stretch.

The SAM suggestion was more of a surprise as he certainly seems a bit large for that role.

I believe the implication is that Taylor is athletically freakish enough to possibly pull off jamming, then dropping back to cover TEs. If he is able to do this effectively then such options as Adams playing on his side becomes a massize headache of confusion for defenses. Maybe drop Dunlap inside next to them on a passing down? The possibilities are intriguing.

It does need to be considered that this was before the injury and many have speculated he won't reach his large potential because of the severity. But no one seems to really know what his current status actually is. Hopefully he at least becomes a solid contributer.

I would expect him to be around 270-275 if not more right now. He didn't get much work ( on the field practice or games ) so I expect a little out of shape version. I read he is capable of 4.56 40 so that's a good sign and points to his athletic ability but I would like to see it myself because he didn't get to run the 40. People talked about him playing a hybrid type position DE/LB but I feel they drafted him to be more like a Michael Bennett player playing DE and sliding inside to DT as part of a rotation. When watching tape of Taylor he didn't have to many problems out muscling Tackles in college and his quickness off the line always had them on their heels. Still I don't know what his ability is to work in space because we never really saw it so I just took a guess with what I know about his ability and how it fits. DE with the ability to slide inside. I think he and Kerry Hyder will play the same role and Hyder was brought in to either start if Taylor isn't ready, Depth and for rotation or if Taylor flames out which he still could.

 

[returnofjakedog]

I would expect him to be around 270-275 if not more right now. He didn't get much work ( on the field practice or games ) so I expect a little out of shape version. I read he is capable of 4.56 40 so that's a good sign and points to his athletic ability but I would like to see it myself because he didn't get to run the 40. People talked about him playing a hybrid type position DE/LB but I feel they drafted him to be more like a Michael Bennett player playing DE and sliding inside to DT as part of a rotation. When watching tape of Taylor he didn't have to many problems out muscling Tackles in college and his quickness off the line always had them on their heels. Still I don't know what his ability is to work in space because we never really saw it so I just took a guess with what I know about his ability and how it fits. DE with the ability to slide inside. I think he and Kerry Hyder will play the same role and Hyder was brought in to either start if Taylor isn't ready, Depth and for rotation or if Taylor flames out which he still could.

All good points and it makes more sense to me than the article, but there are some things that could support the article's views:

*We have periodically seen our DEs drop into coverage. Not often, but I recall noting it at least 4 or 5 times last year, and I'm sure I missed some instances. So if Taylor has the athleticism to pull it off I could see it being implemented even if only rarely.
Of course I am not clear on Taylor's ability to do this even before the injury, let alone after it.
*The weight situation is merely speculation on both of our parts. My feeling is that he should be within 5 pounds plus/minus of the listed 265 to 270 pounds.......so somewhere in the 260 to 275 range.
*Dunlap is much better suited to shift inside than Taylor is at this point in his career imo. He is has veteran NFL strength, weighs in at the 285-290 lb range. He also already has successful experience doing this.

I should note that I am not familiar with the writer. As a SI correspondent I would think he has some insider info but he could just be entrenched in random offseason speculation.

Camp will at least clarify a lot of these issues. We should at least have some understanding of his abilities, injury recovery, weight, strength, quickness, etc. I hope for the best and look forward to seeing how develops.