Bears have uncovered a gem in Darrell Taylor |
All offseason long, the talk surrounding the Chicago Bears camp was what they would do to address the pass rush. Extending Montez Sweat last season solidified that in the second half of the season, but at some point, you had to figure out the Bears would try to get him some help.
The most logical option was bringing back Yannick Ngakoue, who signed with the Bears last season. However, after missing half of the season with a foot injury, Chicago elected not to resign him, and he is still on the open market. You also saw the Bears draft Austin Booker out of Kansas, and judging by his performance during the preseason, especially against Buffalo, they may have something in him long-term. However, with Booker being a rookie, it may take a little while for him to see the field consistently, thus putting the Bears in a tough spot for pass-rushing help. Leave it to Ryan Poles to figure that out, as he made a trade with the Seattle Seahawks to bring in Darrell Taylor. Drafted out of the University of Tennessee in 2021, Taylor was a reliable pass rusher for the Seahawks. He racked up 21.5 sacks across his three seasons in the Pacific Northwest. That included a career-best 9.5 sacks in 2022, as Taylor has had at least 5.5 sacks in each of his NFL seasons. Any time you can bring a player like that in, you have to wonder what your team had to give up for him, so when you see that all Chicago gave up was a 2025 sixth-round pick, you have to view this as a massive steal. Not only was this a huge get for the Bears, but a massive loss for the Seahawks, who lost one of their best pass rushers to the Bears, who now have a great option to pair with Sweat long-term. Given that he wasn't with the team most of the summer, many were wondering the type of impact Taylor would make on the field early, but he answered those questions in a big way. When you look at the game on Sunday, several players stood out, but no one stood out as much as Taylor. The dude was a menace and was all over the field, giving the Titans offensive line fits. Not only did he finish third on the team with eight tackles (seven solo), but he also came away with two tackles for a loss and two sacks, with one of those coming as a strip sack to give the ball back to the Bears in Titans territory. Compare that to Sweat, who only had two tackles and no sacks. The immediate impact that Taylor made can't go unnoticed, and it is something to watch going forward. When the Bears were at their best in 2018, they had a legitimate pass rusher in Khalil Mack and several other players who round ways to chip in. Some of those guys included Leonard Floyd and Akiem Hicks, as the Bears had three legitimate pass-rushing threats. While this team doesn't have a guy like Hicks up front, Sweat can be viewed as this year's version of Mack, with Taylor taking on the Floyd role. That alone could be why Taylor had his success on Sunday, as Sweat got most of the attention, leaving Taylor with many 1v1 situations. Neutralizing Sweat was and will be the game plan for many offensive coordinators this season, but when that happens, guys like Taylor can benefit from it. No one expects him to come out and play like he did against the Titans every week, but should he continue to showcase the skill set he showed, teams won't be able to zero in on Sweat as long as he needs to be accounted for. The less attention Sweat receives, the more he can get after the quarterback, which, in turn, makes this entire defense better in the long run. Taylor's play showed the Bears a lot of potential, as he is not only capable of tallying double-digit sacks but could also find himself in extension talks once the season is over.
