Former Tennessee defensive end Darrell Taylor is on the move just over two weeks away from the start of the 2024 NFL season. The Seattle Seahawks are trading Taylor to the Chicago Bears for a sixth round draft pick in next spring’s NFL Draft, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported.
Trade! The #Seahawks are sending LB Darrell Taylor to the #Bears for a 2025 sixth-round pick, per source. pic.twitter.com/eCKZ6bb71G
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 23, 2024
The Seahawks selected Taylor with a second round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft before being with the franchise for four years and playing three seasons. From 2021-2023, Taylor played in 49 games and started 13 games combining for 91 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks and five forced fumbles.
Taylor’s best professional season came in 2021 when he totaled 26 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks and four forced fumbles.
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This is an important year for the former Tennessee standout. Taylor previously signed a one-year contract extension in Seattle that pays him $3.14 million for this upcoming season. With Taylor once again being a free agent after this season, he needs a strong year to help him get a new contract.
Taylor lands on a surging Bears team that looks poised to compete for a playoff spot next season. He’ll get the opportunity to play opposite to star defensive end Montez Sweat who the Bears traded for and signed to an extension last season.
In his four-year career at Tennessee, Taylor totaled 118 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 19.5 sacks. He was particularly effective in his junior and senior seasons, totaling eight sacks in 2018 and 8.5 sacks in 2019. Taylor had a handful of monster games during his career including a four-sack game that helped Tennessee upset No. 11 Kentucky in 2018.
Vol fans could potentially get a look at Taylor early in the 2024 NFL season as Chicago faces off with the Tennessee Titans in its season opener at Soldier Field.
