Looks like a soft Taco with no flavor

[Cowboy_Shawn]

I think the problem that some of Taco's detractors have is their expectations of him were too high. He was never projected to be an elite pass rusher, but it seems that's what most expected him to be. Most people who watched him in college and who have realistic expectations of him, pegged him as a 6-8 sack per year kind of guy, and an above average run supporter. Basically a solid all around DE who isn't particularly great at any one thing.

 

[waldoputty]

I think the problem that some of Taco's detractors have is their expectations of him were too high. He was never projected to be an elite pass rusher, but it seems that's what most expected him to be. Most people who watched him in college and who have realistic expectations of him, pegged him as a 6-8 sack per year kind of guy, and an above average run supporter. Basically a solid all around DE who isn't particularly great at any one thing.

a lot of that is due to the FO selling him as RDE.
they were probably justifying why taco over watt, and why not trade up for takk or harris.
also why did they not get a FA.

 

[manster4ever]

One meaningless preseason game, I know. First live action in the NFL, yes, I know. But last night was decidedly unimpressive last night from Taco Charlton.

So I went back and watched his snaps again. Maybe I just missed something while the defense was getting torched early. Maybe it wasn't that bad. Maybe I need to chill.

Nope, it was even worse than I thought.

Absolutely no explosion off the snap. No twitch or quickness to him. No strength to push the pocket whatsoever. Not a single pass rush move that even looked like a pass rush move.

And this was against scrubs. He played like a three-toed sloth. Moved like molasses.

I realize pass rushers generally take a year or two to get their feet under them in the NFL. But even before that, you can see athleticism and that "special" quality that made them worthy of a first-round pick. You could see it immediately in Demarcus Ware. Randy Gregory looked different than the others. Demarcus Lawrence's athleticism was apparent. Charles Tapper certainly looks the part, even as a 4th-rounder.

I was hoping Taco could become a poor man's Greg Ellis. I'm afraid this is just another Shante Carver, Kavika Pittman, or Ebennezer Ekuban.

I just see nothing there at all. I hope desperately that I'm wrong.

Time will tell. I mean, I didn't like the pick from day one but what do I know? I thought JJ Watt was overrated at Wisconsin and he's been unreal. I thought Fred Beard was underrated and would rock and he has. Win some lose some I guess. I have a feeling my talent and evaluation skills aren't much worse than the average GM. It's a damn crap shoot frankly.

 

[George]

The game is meaningless. The score is meaningless.

It's the Super Bowl for the rookies as individuals. I'm concerned that our first-round pick, who should look dominant against scrubs, looked worse than the scrubs.

Agreed. We made a bad pick. You folks that think otherwise accept this eh?

 

[haleyrules]

Yes I can agree with that. What I cant agree with is Taco lacking in athletic ability or not having the tools to be a good player. Its just to early for me to go down that road.

Yeah. Way, way too early. Its outrageous, really. Lets wait at least 3 yrs to condemn a kid!!

 

[Alexander]

I think the problem that some of Taco's detractors have is their expectations of him were too high. He was never projected to be an elite pass rusher, but it seems that's what most expected him to be. Most people who watched him in college and who have realistic expectations of him, pegged him as a 6-8 sack per year kind of guy, and an above average run supporter. Basically a solid all around DE who isn't particularly great at any one thing.

Not for me. I was not expecting a world beater.

What I did expect is a player who could have looked a little better as a rusher against the likes of Ulrick John.

I realize he is an elite talent that the rest of the league does not know about, but I had hopes Taco could at least fake it.

 

[CWR]

Yeah. Way, way too early. Its outrageous, really. Lets wait at least 3 yrs to condemn a kid!!

The way we've drafted (for the most part) the last few years Im giving our management the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps DL has been the most elusive position group for us to accurately identify so Im also not ignoring that. Collins brings some hope though, maybe we've turned the corner there as well. But MAINLY I personally sleep better at night with a little hope and optimism in my heart lol. Coming off of last year I have ample amounts of both. So Im gonna give Taco a chance before I go chicken little up in here.

 

[Alexander]

The way we've drafted (for the most part) the last few years Im giving our management the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps DL has been the most elusive position group for us to accurately identify so Im also not ignoring that. Collins brings some hope though, maybe we've turned the corner there as well. But MAINLY I personally sleep better at night with a little hope and optimism in my heart lol. Coming off of last year I have ample amounts of both. So Im gonna give Taco a chance before I go chicken little up in here.

We have drafted to certain positions very well, most of them offensively.

I don't carry that faith to the defense, especially the line.

I still believe we have this idea in our heads that Marinelli can make numbers work in his favor and also coach up slop to be serviceable.

 

[haleyrules]

The way we've drafted (for the most part) the last few years Im giving our management the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps DL has been the most elusive position group for us to accurately identify so Im also not ignoring that. Collins brings some hope though, maybe we've turned the corner there as well. But MAINLY I personally sleep better at night with a little hope and optimism in my heart lol. Coming off of last year I have ample amounts of both. So Im gonna give Taco a chance before I go chicken little up in here.

Sure. The FO is far more astute at drafting offensive players. The Cowboys need to bring in some old school defensive talents to advise them on defensive talent.

 

[haleyrules]

We have drafted to certain positions very well, most of them offensively.

I don't carry that faith to the defense, especially the line.

I still believe we have this idea in our heads that Marinelli can make numbers work in his favor and also coach up slop to be serviceable.

Thats the error.

 

[Alexander]

Thats the error.

A good deal of the time, the picks are predicated by the DC.

It has happened all along. We just had to have Claiborne and moved picks to make it happen because that is what Ryan wanted.

Marinelli is different, he seems arrogant enough to think he can just get effort and grit out of marginal players and they might make it if he shows them enough cut-ups of Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice.

 

[haleyrules]

A good deal of the time, the picks are predicated by the DC.

It has happened all along. We just had to have Claiborne and moved picks to make it happen because that is what Ryan wanted.

Marinelli is different, he seems arrogant enough to think he can just get effort and grit out of marginal players and they might make it if he shows them enough cut-ups of Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice.

Mo!! That still hurts. Luck Kuechly..Fletcher Cox....Gilmore..come to mind and fortify my position on our blunted FO!! Marinelli is what can be hired when a Jerry Jones is the owner....Jason Garrett comes to mind.

 

[Alexander]

Mo!! That still hurts. Luck Kuechly..Fletcher Cox....Gilmore..come to mind and fortify my position on our blunted FO!! Marinelli is what can be hired when a Jerry Jones is the owner....Jason Garrett comes to mind.

That was an organizational kow tow to Rob Ryan. Epic failure for a coach that had never, ever, done it.

 

[haleyrules]

A good deal of the time, the picks are predicated by the DC.

It has happened all along. We just had to have Claiborne and moved picks to make it happen because that is what Ryan wanted.

Marinelli is different, he seems arrogant enough to think he can just get effort and grit out of marginal players and they might make it if he shows them enough cut-ups of Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice.

My point has always been...you can not win a SB with the present FO...Barring divine intervention. That happened in the early 90's...God is on to ole Jerry boys deal with the devil..

 

[CWR]

We have drafted to certain positions very well, most of them offensively.

I don't carry that faith to the defense, especially the line.

I still believe we have this idea in our heads that Marinelli can make numbers work in his favor and also coach up slop to be serviceable.

They are waiting for him to make another Melton. I dont know weve been in a position to get the war daddy we want though. Last one I recall was Donaldson and I think he was snagged before we could get to him. Our need combined with our patience for one of those guys to fall to us has hurt us. It seems like time and time again someone jumps in and take our DL prospect right before us. That is part of why we jumped on a guy like Gregory. We finally had a chance to take a supposedly elite pass rusher...Im not making excuses, I think things have just played out that way on defense. Collins may turn out to be a stud though.

 

[CWR]

Mo!! That still hurts. Luck Kuechly..Fletcher Cox....Gilmore..come to mind and fortify my position on our blunted FO!! Marinelli is what can be hired when a Jerry Jones is the owner....Jason Garrett comes to mind.

Id be interested to know who we took instead of those guys. Mo was a huge disappointment. Alot of people were wrong about him. I also didnt get the impression we did our homework on him either. I dont think we expected to have a shot at him.

 

[Alexander]

They are waiting for him to make another Melton. .

The scary thing is, that Melton was not all that great.

Henry Melton was an afterthought in the fourth round for Chicago. He looked like another Geno Atkins for a year.

But he was damaged and the player we looked at was hardly the same. It is not a lot different than what we did with Amobi Okoye.

That is part of the issue. They thought they could reclaim past glory.

In fact, that seems to be what Marinelli is based off of. He has had fleeting success but far from what you would think is truly elite.

He is not like others in a similar vein like Dick LeBeau or Dom Capers. He is a definite step below. But we like to pretend we have otherwise.

 

[dallasdave]

i recall a reasonable amount of blitzes, particularly when the base rush was not getting there.
get a better rush player, we may get 2 more blitzes home.
there is probably all we need with the offense we have.

 

[xwalker]

if taco is yet another LDE/3-tech, we have plenty of those in tcrawford, dlaw, collins and paea
why another one?
this was sold by the FO as a RDE, not LDE.
watt could play SLB and be used as one of the 3-and-long blitzers.
with our offense, stopping the opponent 2 times more may win us a close game by not giving the other 8 seconds and a lawnchair and a victory cigar to boot.

He played LDE because Tapper is a RDE. He might play a lot of LDE because Mayowa is an RDE only.

Taco is NOT a Tyrone Crawford type player. He is much more athletic than Crawford.

 

[haleyrules]

Id be interested to know who we took instead of those guys. Mo was a huge disappointment. Alot of people were wrong about him. I also didnt get the impression we did our homework on him either. I dont think we expected to have a shot at him.

What to heck...The Cowboys took Mo!! Those boys were taken AFTER Mo in the first rd of his draft year. Could have had any of them.