The Chicago Bears have finally found a potential solution to their pass-rushing problem.
On Friday, the Bears acquired defensive end Darrell Taylor from the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a 2025 sixth-round pick, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Chicago general manager Ryan Poles had been poking around for EDGE help in recent weeks and was involved in discussions for New England Patriots pass rusher Matthew Judon before he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons last week.
Bears Acquire Seahawks EDGE Darrell Taylor
The Seahawks were reportedly willing to trade Taylor at the 2023 deadline before fellow pass rusher Uchenna Nwosu went down with a season-ending pectoral injury.
Ten months later, Taylor wasn’t a lock to make Seattle’s roster under new head coach Mike Macdonald. He was buried behind Nwosu, Boye Mafe, Dre’Mont Jones, and Derick Hall on the Seahawks’ EDGE depth chart and played into the second half of the club’s second preseason game.
While the Bears won’t want Taylor setting the edge against the run, he’s posted at least 25 pressures and five sacks in each of the last three seasons, including a career-high 9.5 sacks in 2022.
“It’s exciting for us to get (Taylor),” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said on 670 The Score. “He’s got sack production, a really good pass rusher. He fits our scheme in terms of his effort, his style, his disposition.”
Taylor, a second-round pick out of Tennessee in the 2020 NFL Draft, spent his entire rookie campaign on the non-football injury list. Since then, he’s appeared in 49 games (13 starts), tallying 21.5 sacks and 91 tackles while playing at least 40% of Seattle’s defensive snaps every season.
Because he was on the NFI list in 2020, Taylor was a restricted free agent this offseason. The Seahawks re-signed him to a one-year, $3.116 million contract, which the Bears will absorb via today’s trade.
Why the Bears Had To Trade for EDGE Help
As portrayed on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” docuseries, Poles and the Bears were willing to trade a third-round draft pick for Judon — but only if they could agree to a contract extension with the 32-year-old defender.
Without a new deal in 2024, Judon would have cost Chicago $6.5 million. Taylor will earn less than half that total but shouldn’t be counted on to provide Judon’s production.
FREE: Subscribe to PFN’s NFL Newsletter
“If he has 20 sacks or something, yeah, it’ll make me sick,” Poles said after the Bears passed on a Judon trade.
Clearly, Chicago was in the market for a Montez Sweat tag-team partner — and for good reason.
Eberflus, who was also the club’s defensive play-caller in 2023, likes to avoid blitzing and prefers to get after quarterbacks with just four pass rushers. According to TruMedia, Chicago ranked 22nd last season with a 20.7% blitz rate.
The only problem? Eberflus’ strategy bombed.
In 2023, the Bears finished dead last in pressure rate (27.4%) when not blitzing. Chicago improved after trading for Sweat in Week 9 but still ranked only 23rd in pressure when rushing four.
While Taylor won’t be an every-down player for the Bears, he is a valuable depth addition as a third-down, pass-rushing specialist.
With Sweat, Taylor, holdovers DeMarcus Walker, Daniel Hardy, Dominique Robinson, and fifth-round rookie Austin Booker on board, Chicago has built a viable EDGE rotation.