How many more snaps will Darrell Taylor get in 2022?
How many more snaps will Darrell Taylor get in 2022?
Seaside Joe 1221: The better he does against the run, the more chances he will get to sack the quarterback
In the early results of Friday’s Seahawks fan survey (Rookie Edition), the closest vote is in the category: Which 2020 draft pick will have the best season in 2022?
After nearly 200 responses, Darrell Taylor has 51.3-percent of the votes and Jordyn Brooks has 44.5-percent.
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One of the most interesting and overlooked ways that the two players differed last season was simply by playing time. Taylor probably has more value when he’s on the field, but Brooks is on the field twice as often. That’s an important distinction when comparing an off-ball linebacker and an outside linebacker or edge rusher.
Especially if the edge rusher is not nearly as renowned for his run defense as he is for his unique set of pass rushing skills. Disrupting the quarterback is more important than stopping the run, but being a liability against the run or being a strength is not inconsequential. The two concepts are mutually exclusive.
The greatest edge rushers are often also great run defenders. Khalil Mack is an All-Pro because he has sacked the quarterback a lot in his career, but he could also potentially make the Hall of Fame of Run-Stoppers.
How good a run defender Taylor is and could be remains a bit of a mystery, but the value of a true three-down edge player is much greater than a rotational piece who only enters on obvious passing downs. Because Taylor only has one NFL season under his belt, it’s difficult to judge him for the number of snaps he played during his official rookie season.
Brooks played in 1,107 snaps, which was still only 87-percent of the total number of opportunities for Seattle.
Taylor played in 543 snaps, which amounts to 46-percent for the 16 games that he was active for.
Last season, Taylor was a very impressive pass rusher for someone who was facing NFL competition for the first time. He ranked right in the middle of the road for pass rush win rate, ahead of names like Leonard Floyd, Joey Bosa, and Matt Judon. I think a lot of the “negative” sides of his season, of which there are not many relative to the issues that Seattle couldn’t overcome in 2021, can be amounted to being at best footnotes to monitor in the future because it was rookie season.
However, how many more snaps will Darrell Taylor actually see in 2022 under defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt, and with a lot of space cleared out now that Rasheem Green, Benson Mayowa, Kerry Hyder, and Carlos Dunlap (combined for over 2,300 snaps) are all out of the picture?
And what will his split of pass rushing snaps and run-situation snaps look like?
If Taylor can become a 800 or 900-snaps defensive end that would obviously place him on another pedestal of “pass rusher”, because it’s those who can stop the run who will also get the most bonus opportunities to crush the quarterback.