Bears trade for Seahawks pass rusher Darrell Taylor, give up 2025 6th-round pick: source

The Bears found some potential help for their pass rush Friday. They traded a sixth-round pick to the Seahawks for outside linebacker Darrell Taylor, who would play defensive end for them, a source said.

Taylor, 27, played mostly as a backup for the Seahawks over his three seasons there, but has been more productive than most of the Bears' options as they try to solidify their defensive ends. He had 5 1/2 sacks last season and 21 1/2 over his three seasons with Seahawks after they drafted him in the second round out of Tennessee in 2020.

He was 20th in the NFL with 9 1/2 sacks in 2022.

"He’s got sack production," Bears coach Matt Eberflus told WSCR-AM in a weekly appearance Friday. "He’s a really good pass rusher. He fits our scheme, in terms of his effort, his style, his disposition."

General manager Ryan Poles has been looking for help at the position and had the framework of a trade in place with the Patriots for Matthew Judon last week, but it fell apart when he and Judon couldn't work out a contract extension.

The Bears go into the season with question marks in the pass rush after Pro Bowl defensive end Montez Sweat. He was the only player on the team with five or more sacks last season.

DeMarcus Walker has been in line as the other starter, but he has just 23 sacks in seven seasons and the Bears have been cross-training him at defensive tackle this year. The other main contenders are Jacob Martin (18 career sacks), Dominique Robinson (two), Khalid Kareem (one) and fifth-round pick Austin Booker.

Taylor has a salary-cap hit of just $3.1 million and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He was set to fly to Chicago to take a physical on Friday.