Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has seen enough.
Entering training camp with the mindset that he wanted to let the in-house crop of edge defenders prove themselves, Poles waited until the conclusion of the preseason to address a position many had marked as a need entering the regular season.
Darrell Taylor Sends 2-Word Message After Bears Trade
Bears Trade For Former Seahawks EDGE Darrell Taylor
?Trade! The #Seahawks are sending LV Darrell Taylor to the #Bears for a 2025 sixth-round pick, per source,? NFL Network?s Tom Pelissero reported on X on August 23. ?A second-round pick in the 2020 draft, Darrell Taylor has 21.5 sacks in 49 career games. Chicago was in on Matthew Judon, and now lands another pass rusher instead.?
In reaction to the trade, Taylor posted ?Bear bidness? on Instagram.
Taylor recorded a career-low 5.5 sacks in 2023 and he has never started more than five games, so this may be more of an addition to the rotation rather than an outright move to add a starter.
Darrell Tayler of the Chicago Bears.
A 6-foot-4, 267-pound player, Taylor was the Seahawks? third-leading sacker. He also has experience playing with his hand in the dirt or standing up, which Bears rookie EDGE Austin Booker could be seen doing at times despite the team?s 4-3 base front. Taylor also recorded a career-high 9.0 sacks in 2022.
He is on a one-year, $3.1 million contract with free agency looming in 2025.
Darrell Taylor Could Squeeze Former 5th-Round Pick Off Bears? 53-Man Roster
Aside from Booker, Taylor joins an EDGE group that currently includes Montez Sweat, DeMarcus Walker, 2022 fifth-round pick Dominique Robinson, and former Los Angeles Rams seventh-round pick Daniel Hardy.
Sweat is locked in at one starting spot. But the other spot has been an area of concern since the outset of training camp.
Walker was projected to start.
However, he will also see time at defensive tackle and could be more useful off the bench in that sense. Booker is a rookie but needs to bulk up to withstand a starting role. Hardy has flashed in the preseason but is undersized to be an every-down player.
Robinson spoke candidly about feeling as though he needed to prove himself this preseason but ended the slate with zero sacks and two pressures despite starting three of four games.
The Bears could try to keep Robinson, a converted wide receiver, on the practice squad.
But Taylor?s addition figures will push someone off the final 53-man roster with cutdown day on August 27. Robinson seems like a logical candidate, but he is far from the only possibility among the large swath of players battling for far fewer openings.
Bears Turn Page on Matt Judon, Yannick Ngakoue
Reports of the Bears? interest in Matt Judon before he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons were corroborated by scenes from HBO?s ?Hard Knocks? that showed Poles discussing the deal. It had been reported Judon chose to join the Falcons over the Bears.
But the footage showed Poles? insistence on getting the four-time Pro Bowler to agree to a contract extension before completing the trade.
The Bears had otherwise met the New England Patriots? asking price.
This move also seems to close the door on Yannick Ngakoue?s return to the team. There were persistent links between the two sides after his time in Chicago in 2023.
Nagakoue is coming off a broken ankle that ended his 2023 season early. Addressing the need at EDGE now allows the Bears to turn their attention to defensive tackle. Head Coach Matt Eberflus admitted depth was a concern amid Zacch Pickens? injury.
