The Dallas Cowboys spent a first-round pick on Taco Charlton in 2017 and improvement upon a disappointing rookie season would help the team greatly.
Many Dallas Cowboys fans were down on Taco Charlton from the moment the selection was announced at the back end of the 2017 NFL Drat. Fans wanted a “sexier” pick than the Michigan product — specifically, there was a vocal group that wanted the Boys to nab T.J. Watt coming out of Wisconsin. Instead, Charlton’s ticket to Dallas was punched.
Unfortunately for the first-round pick, those fans who wanted Watt likely feel vindicated about their stance following Charlton’s rookie year. Put simply, the 6-6, 277-pound defensive end was lackluster in his first NFL season.
Charlton finished the campaign with just 15 tackles and three sacks on the year, adding one pass deflection and a forced fumble along the way. While that’s not necessarily bad, it doesn’t look great considering that Charlton saw 399 snaps in his rookie season and appeared in all 16 games.
Pro Football Focus Edge was not kind to Charlton in their grading of the former Wolverine, ranking him 94th among all edge defenders in the NFL last season. Granted, he may have been a bit higher purely as a pass rusher (76th), but it still was nothing to write home about and far from the productivity that you want from a first-round selection to address a big weakness.
Heading into 2018, however, the pass rush off the edge is much less of an issue for the Cowboys as it once was, largely due to the emergence of Demarcus Lawrence as a star player. With Tank, Tyrone Crawford, the possible return of Randy Gregory and the additions of Kony Ealy and Dorance Armstrong, this has quickly turned into a solid position group in Dallas.
Having said that, Charlton taking a step forward in his second year could make defensive end a legitimate strength for the Cowboys defense that needs that.
Very few first-round picks and edge defenders come into the league ready to be stars. If that were the case with Charlton, he wouldn’t have been there when the Cowboys were making their selection at the end of the round. Thus, there should’ve been an expected learning curve with him in terms of adjusting to NFL speed and to getting NFL-caliber footwork and strength engrained in him.
Next: Grading each 2017 first-round pick after rookie year
Subsequently, Year 2 will be critical for the development of Charlton. Yes, his rookie year was overall disappointing, but if he improves noticeably, that’s unimportant in the grand scheme. More pressingly, improvement from him will help bolster the depth of a unit that, with more production and effective play from the second-year pro, will be a force for the defense.