Michael Jackson and Darrell Taylor always seemed destined to move on before Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks ever played a real game, so it was no surprise the backup defenders were traded on consecutive days this week.

Taylor’s departure, which really comes a year too late, marks the end of John Schneider’s 2020 draft class – none of whom made it to a second contract in Seattle as Taylor’s $3.1 million returns to the Hawks’ salary cap.

Of the 19 players Seattle drafted in 2019 and 2020, DK Metcalf is the only one still on the team. Unlike the 2019 draft, which beyond Metcalf was almost entirely a bunch of busts and backups, the 2020 draft did produce some solid starters: Jordyn Brooks (Miami) and Damien Lewis (Carolina) both got good money to leave. So did backup tight end Colby Parkinson (L.A. Rams).

The Hawks actually got three 2025 draft picks for that 2020 crew: a comp 4 for Lewis, a comp 5 for Brooks and a 6 for Taylor (from Chicago). Parkinson was worth a 6, but the Seahawks overpaid yet another tight end (Pharaoh Brown at $3.2 million) to replace him, and that cancelled the comp pick.

The Hawks now have these picks in 2025: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7. Recall that they gave up a 5 in that draft along with a 2024 second-rounder for Leonard Williams last season. Brooks brought that 5 back by signing a deal worth $8.75 million a year with Miami.

The Hawks surely could have gotten much more for Taylor if they had followed our advice and traded him after the 2023 season, when he had 9.5 sacks but showed he was a major liability against the run at outside linebacker. That weakness remained in 2023, when he had just 5.5 sacks and basically lost any value he had.

It was curious to see the Hawks give him a $3.1 million deal (basically an unguaranteed RFA tender) this year. He did not seem like he would fit Macdonald’s defense. And with Derick Hall surprisingly shining this preseason after a busted rookie season, Taylor was deep down the edge rusher depth chart that leads with Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe and Dre Jones. The Hawks somehow managed to get something for him – but it was not as much as they surely could have gotten in 2023.

Meanwhile, Jackson was the guy pretty much all of us figured would be traded out of a deep secondary this summer. After all, he was the fifth guy behind Pro Bowl starters Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen and top backups Tre Brown and Artie Burns — yet he had value as a guy who had started and played well for Seattle. The Hawks also drafted Auburn corners Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James, and unheralded Dee Williams is pushing for a spot as the return man/last corner.

The Hawks are super thin at linebacker, so adding a guy who knows Macdonald’s defense made sense. Michael Barrett is not Junior Colson, but he was Colson’s teammate on Michigan’s national title team, whose dominant defense was developed by Macdonald in 2021.

“Mike was very productive at Michigan, obviously, and we had a chance to (evaluate) him coming out,” Macdonald said. “Just excited to have him here, and he’s got a great opportunity to come compete and earn himself a spot here for a while.’’