The Dallas Cowboys waived 2017 first-round defensive end Taco Charlton on Wednesday. Should the Detroit Lions take a flier on the former Michigan star?
Through the Detroit Lions‘ first two games of the new regular season, their defense has struggled. The Lions currently rank 27th in total defense allowing 405.5 yards to opposing offenses. Detroit is 24th in passing defense (281.0 yards per) and 21st against the run (124.5 yards per).
One area of particular concern is their ability to get to opposing quarterbacks. The Lions parted ways with longtime pass rusher Ezekiel Ansah after years of injuries and inconsistent play. Still, Ansah was able to record double-digit sacks twice in his previous four seasons in the Motor City.
With Ansah now playing with the Seattle Seahawks, the Lions signed New England Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers to a massive five-year, $90 million deal this offseason. The fifth-year veteran was able to post an average of 7.0 sacks a season for the past three years for the Pats and is a two-time Super Bowl winner.
Yet, two games into the new season, Flowers has recorded a total of three tackles and one quarterback hit despite playing nearly 60 percent of the defensive snaps. But he’s not alone as there has been a distinct lack of pressure coming from the vaunted defensive line in Detroit. The only other Lions to record a sack along the line are defensive end Romeo Okwara (0.5) and defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson (0.5).
In fact, it’s been the Lions’ linebackers who have been racking up the sacks instead with a total of five being recorded between Devon Kennard, Jahlani Tavai, and Christian Jones. But Detroit has a chance to add a former first-round pass rusher in Michigan’s Taco Charlton to their rotation.
The Dallas Cowboys waived Charlton on Wednesday, their first-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft, 28th overall. The 6-foot-6, 275-pound prospect flamed out in Big D after only two seasons. Charlton posted 40 total tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, and 10.0 during his final season at Michigan.
Update: According to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, the Miami Dolphins won the waiver claim on Taco Charlton Thursday.
Charlton had a solid rookie campaign recording 3.0 sacks in 16-games. But that production dropped to only one sack in 2018 and included a short stint as a healthy scratch. The Cowboys made the 24-year old inactive for the first two games of the new season and have now decided to part ways with him entirely.
Charlton is a clear case of a player in desperate need of a change of scenery as the Cowboys’ coaching staff gave up on his potential. Taco posted a stellar stat-line of three combined tackles, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one pass deflection in limited snaps against the Houston Texans in their third preseason game just last month.
It might be wise for the Detroit Lions to take a flier on a player that many believed possessed first round-level talent a mere two seasons ago. Unfortunately for the Lions, they may not even get the chance to claim Taco Charlton if the NFL teams ahead of them on the waiver wire snatch him up first.