Welcome to my favorite day of the week…Taco Tuesday!
Not only will many of us be eating a shameful amount of tacos today, but it's also the topic of today's article. Yes, I'm talking about the Dallas Cowboys second-year Defensive End Taco Charlton.
When the Dallas Cowboys selected Taco Charlton in the first-round of the 2017 NFL Draft, they did so with an eye more on the future than the here and now. They were willing to take a chance on his future development due to his immense physical abilities, but knew that it may take some time to reach his potential.
It's not at all surprising the Cowboys had more of the future in mind when they drafted Charlton. Rookie pass rushers rarely find success immediately. It typically takes them a few years to develop and reach their full potential. Just take a look at DeMarcus Lawrence if you need proof of what I'm talking about.
Fortunately, Taco Charlton may have exceeded expectations as a rookie. After getting off to a slow start to start 2017 season, he ended up finishing strong, accumulating three quarterback sacks in the second half of the season. He hopes to pick up where he left off last year and has high expectations for himself.
“Going into Year 2, I'm stronger. I can hold my weight more. I'm faster. I'm more knowledgeable about the game, studying more moves and working a lot more moves. I'm ready to go and ready to prove what I can do in Year 2.”
Honestly, I'm really looking forward to seeing Taco Charlton's progress from Year 1 to Year 2. In fact, if you believe the hype from training camp practices, he looks like a much improved player already.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about…
Oh wow. Taco put La'el Collins in the matrix. pic.twitter.com/3HblO42Ux7
— Bob Sturm (@SportsSturm) August 6, 2018
If I'm not mistaken, and I'm not, that's the Dallas Cowboys first-team offense and Right Tackle La'el Collins being victimized by Taco Charlton.
Charlton feigns a hard rush to the inside, forcing Collins to shift his weight in order to try to cut him off. With Collins off balance, Taco digs into his new repertoire of pass rush moves and pulls out the spin move to get what would have been a quarterback sack on Dak Prescott. This isn't something we saw from the Cowboys second-year DE last season.
I don't know about you, but I find it encouraging Taco Charlton is showing progress heading into his second-year with the Dallas Cowboys. Even more encouraging is he has been seen shadowing DeMarcus Lawrence and supposedly has been working out with him this offseason as well. Hopefully, he can follow in Lawrence's footsteps sooner rather than later.
Luckily, we don't have long to wait to see Taco Charlton in action. He's probably going to play quite a bit in the Week 1 preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. Let's just hope he not only picks up where he left off last year, but shows improvement as well.
