Seahawks edge rusher Darrell Taylor out with shoulder injury
The Seahawks are hoping Darrell Taylor can take a big leap in 2023, but their ascending edge rusher's plans for a breakout year have suffered a setback. Taylor was at practice on Thursday with his arm in a sling and head coach Pete Carroll confirmed the edge rusher had suffered a sprained shoulder. However, the […]
The Seahawks are hoping Darrell Taylor can take a big leap in 2023, but their ascending edge rusher's plans for a breakout year have suffered a setback.
Taylor was at practice on Thursday with his arm in a sling and head coach Pete Carroll confirmed the edge rusher had suffered a sprained shoulder.
However, the 2020 second-round pick will not require surgery.
Per Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times, Carroll said:
“We’ll wait and figure out how long it’s going to take. We don’t think it’s [long term]. It’s not requiring surgery, but we’ve just got to see how he responds. He felt way better today than he did yesterday.”
Taylor is coming off his most productive season to date having registered 9.5 sack in 2022. That tally was tied for the most on the team with Uchenna Nwosu, who played 78 percent of the snaps. Taylor played only 44 percent, with disparity reflected by their pressure totals. Nwosu led Seattle with 61 pressures, Taylor had 27, per Pro Football Focus.
Logic would appear to dictate that Taylor could rival Nwosu in terms of total pressures with the benefit of more snaps. The difference in pressure rate would appear to contradict that. Nwosu's pressure rate was 14.9 percent compared to 10.3 percent for Taylor, per Sports Info Solutions.
Still, Taylor's 2022 was a campaign in which he displayed the hallmarks of a player primed to elevate his game to another level. The hope will be this injury does not hinder his prospects of doing so, but it certainly increases the onus on Boye Mafe and Derick Hall, second-round picks in each of the last two drafts, to impress off the edge.
Mafe in particular now has an opportunity to stake a claim for more snaps after three sacks as a rookie. His pressure rate of 4.8 percent on 175 pass rush snaps was far from impressive, however, and the Seahawks will want Taylor back in the mix as soon as possible in the hope of fostering a deep and dynamic edge rush rotation.
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Featured Image Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
