Is Taco a change in philosophy?

[DallasDomination]

Taco seems to be the anti Demarcus Ware. Ware had power but his biggest asset was speed and agility.

Tacos game seems to be pure power. That seems to be similar to how the Seahawks approach the DL.

I really expect Taco to be moved to the left DE because of his speed limitations. That doesn't mean he can't be a good end, just not an elite end with speed

Jerry the GM says they drafted him to play right end. If they really believe this does it indicate a departure from what they have previously looked for in a DE?

It means they got the best pass rusher they could where they were picking. I'm not as familiar with Taco to be honest but Ware was a guy that had every arrow pointing up. Dude had motor, moves, speed, power, hands. Taco seems like a project to me. But hey let's see how it plays out.

 

[xwalker]

It means they got the best pass rusher they could where they were picking. I'm not as familiar with Taco to be honest but Ware was a guy that had every arrow pointing up. Dude had motor, moves, speed, power, hands. Taco seems like a project to me. But hey let's see how it plays out.

Taco is less of a project than most of the other options.
Watt - Played 3-4 LB and needed to add weight for DE.
Takk - Needed to add weight and recover from shoulder surgery.
Harris - Way behind on knowing how to play the run.
All 2nd round guys were raw.

 

[CowboyRoy]

You might be right...but if you look beyond his 40, take in consideration the high ankle sprain he played through in his first year of significant starts, and his length, which can create the illusion that he is slow, you might be pleasantly surprised at his speed for his size. I'm not proclaiming him a war daddy, but he very well could become one. Think Greg Hardy, without the baggage... eventually...possibly.

Possible, sure. But I saw his highlight reels. Just doesnt seem to have that burst. We were picking 28th, did you really expect to find a pro bowl RDE there? They wanted McKinnley for a reason over him. Because of the speed. And you have to love how all of a sudden 40 times, burst, and speed dont matter for a DE. Since when?

IM just being realistic. Im not wired to pool the wool over my eyes.

 

[jday]

Possible, sure. But I saw his highlight reels. Just doesnt seem to have that burst. We were picking 28th, did you really expect to find a pro bowl RDE there? They wanted McKinnley for a reason over him. Because of the speed. And you have to love how all of a sudden 40 times, burst, and speed dont matter for a DE. Since when?

IM just being realistic. Im not wired to pool the wool over my eyes.

Since when? Since in the history of football, rare are the occasions a defensive lineman has to run 40 yards to make a tackle. For a defensive lineman, what you look at are a couple of things in tandem; their body and arm length, their 10 sec split and 20 yard time, the 3-cone drill, their vertical, etc. In other words, the events that measure explosion and short area quickness. In those events, Taco passed convincingly.

The truth is, every draft pick is a gamble; even the Myles Garretts of the world have something to prove, despite their draft position. You construct your board with this truth in mind, the idea being that the further you get away from confidence that a player will succeed, the further down your board you place them. Another truth that you have to consider is that very few DE come into the league and immediately make their presence felt. It takes time. So, I'm not attempting to suggest that Taco will immediately make an impact; however, I do believe given 3 years he will certainly be in that conversation.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Since when? Since in the history of football, rare are the occasions a defensive lineman has to run 40 yards to make a tackle. For a defensive lineman, what you look at are a couple of things in tandem; their body and arm length, their 10 sec split and 20 yard time, the 3-cone drill, their vertical, etc. In other words, the events that measure explosion and short area quickness. In those events, Taco passed convincingly.

The truth is, every draft pick is a gamble; even the Myles Garretts of the world have something to prove, despite their draft position. You construct your board with this truth in mind, the idea being that the further you get away from confidence that a player will succeed, the further down your board you place them. Another truth that you have to consider is that very few DE come into the league and immediately make their presence felt. It takes time. So, I'm not attempting to suggest that Taco will immediately make an impact; however, I do believe given 3 years he will certainly be in that conversation.

Lets just focus on the term speed. Its important. The same guys with speed is a better player then the same guy without. Simple stuff. To run after the QB on a keeper, to chase down the RB, to come from the back end and chase down a play, ect...ect..... To come off the edge and beat the tackle, its all about quickness and speed.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Since when? Since in the history of football, rare are the occasions a defensive lineman has to run 40 yards to make a tackle. For a defensive lineman, what you look at are a couple of things in tandem; their body and arm length, their 10 sec split and 20 yard time, the 3-cone drill, their vertical, etc. In other words, the events that measure explosion and short area quickness. In those events, Taco passed convincingly.

The truth is, every draft pick is a gamble; even the Myles Garretts of the world have something to prove, despite their draft position. You construct your board with this truth in mind, the idea being that the further you get away from confidence that a player will succeed, the further down your board you place them. Another truth that you have to consider is that very few DE come into the league and immediately make their presence felt. It takes time. So, I'm not attempting to suggest that Taco will immediately make an impact; however, I do believe given 3 years he will certainly be in that conversation.

however, I do believe given 3 years he will certainly be in that conversation.

I see no reason he wouldnt be in the conversation either. Unless he gets hurt. But that really isnt saying much. So at the end of the day, we seem to agree.

 

[Verdict]

It means they got the best pass rusher they could where they were picking. I'm not as familiar with Taco to be honest but Ware was a guy that had every arrow pointing up. Dude had motor, moves, speed, power, hands. Taco seems like a project to me. But hey let's see how it plays out.

I think so too. I think Taco is currently a bit of a reach and a project. That's not the end of the world. Projects sometimes turn out well. See Prescott, Dak.


I think maybe his floor is a solid left DE, which would be Ok. But that's not high five and victory lap stuff in the first round. Hopefully his ceiling is high. I will say this, I am happier about him than that lunatic Tak McKinley.

 

[Verdict]

Since when? Since in the history of football, rare are the occasions a defensive lineman has to run 40 yards to make a tackle. For a defensive lineman, what you look at are a couple of things in tandem; their body and arm length, their 10 sec split and 20 yard time, the 3-cone drill, their vertical, etc. In other words, the events that measure explosion and short area quickness. In those events, Taco passed convincingly.

The truth is, every draft pick is a gamble; even the Myles Garretts of the world have something to prove, despite their draft position. You construct your board with this truth in mind, the idea being that the further you get away from confidence that a player will succeed, the further down your board you place them. Another truth that you have to consider is that very few DE come into the league and immediately make their presence felt. It takes time. So, I'm not attempting to suggest that Taco will immediately make an impact; however, I do believe given 3 years he will certainly be in that conversation.

Seldom does a DE have to run 40 yards to get to the QB or the ball carrier. That doesn't mean the 40 is unimportant. It is one measure of explosiveness. It's not the only one, and it's probably not the most important one, but to say it is irrelevant is really Kool Aid drinking stuff to ignore a wart. That wart is his 40 time.

Taco may turn out to be a world beater. I don't really see him as explosive at all. I don't think his drill time matches his get off of the ball in a game. I think his game is power, not speed.

That's ok. It may even be preferable, but let's stop acting like he is D Ware coming around the corner. He's not. Not at all. He is the anti D. Ware.

 

[jday]

Lets just focus on the term speed. Its important. The same guys with speed is a better player then the same guy without. Simple stuff. To run after the QB on a keeper, to chase down the RB, to come from the back end and chase down a play, ect...ect..... To come off the edge and beat the tackle, its all about quickness and speed.

Your exactly right. But the 40 time is not the only indication of a person's speed. And for a defensive lineman, it really isn't a fair indication since he will usually only be running at the most 10 yards to make a tackle. Again, short area quickness is much more important then how fast a defensive lineman can run 40 yards.

 

[jday]

Seldom does a DE have to run 40 yards to get to the QB or the ball carrier. That doesn't mean the 40 is unimportant. It is one measure of explosiveness. It's not the only one, and it's probably not the most important one, but to say it is irrelevant is really Kool Aid drinking stuff to ignore a wart. That wart is his 40 time.

Taco may turn out to be a world beater. I don't really see him as explosive at all. I don't think his drill time matches his get off of the ball in a game. I think his game is power, not speed.

That's ok. It may even be preferable, but let's stop acting like he is D Ware coming around the corner. He's not. Not at all. He is the anti D. Ware.

I certainly wasn't comparing him to D Ware...and if that is what you were hoping for, you need only look at the D Ware on 31 other teams...I'll save you some trouble, you'll only find comparable players on a few of them. If he was D Ware, he would have been drafted before Myles Garrett...possibly. All I'm saying is if you forget his 40 time, and look at the combine events more pertinent to what Taco will be doing on a play to play basis, you will find he logged numbers comparable to many elite football players in the game today. I know, because I've seen a breakdown that does just that. How that translates to the field with pads on is another question that can only be answered by seeing it. But based on the aforementioned breakdown, if he does fail, it won't be because of this assumed physical limitation in the speed area.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Looks pretty quick here:

 

[DallasEast]

Looks pretty quick here:

Charlton has the speed necessary to be successful in the NFL. The question is whether his strength and skill be as equally effective immediately, in time, or never? In my opinion, his technique can be more refined but good enough to produce opportunities for him to get to the quarterback his rookie season. What I will be looking at in training camp is his display of strength versus NFL offensive tackles. That will be my key observation for projecting how well he might perform during the regular season.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Your exactly right. But the 40 time is not the only indication of a person's speed. And for a defensive lineman, it really isn't a fair indication since he will usually only be running at the most 10 yards to make a tackle. Again, short area quickness is much more important then how fast a defensive lineman can run 40 yards.

Im aware of that, but like I said, I watched his film and he didnt seem quick or fast either. So that is where the correlation comes in.

 

[CowboyRoy]

I think so too. I think Taco is currently a bit of a reach and a project. That's not the end of the world. Projects sometimes turn out well. See Prescott, Dak.


I think maybe his floor is a solid left DE, which would be Ok. But that's not high five and victory lap stuff in the first round. Hopefully his ceiling is high. I will say this, I am happier about him than that lunatic Tak McKinley.

I am fine if he becomes a very good LDE. Nearly impossible to get a LDE war daddy picking at 28. I think he is more suited for LDE anyway.

 

[CyberB0b]

Looks pretty quick here:

Damn, I hadn't seen that. The spin move was crazy.

 

[jday]

Im aware of that, but like I said, I watched his film and he didnt seem quick or fast either. So that is where the correlation comes in.

Which is why I brought up the optical illusion of tall players. I'm not sure where, perhaps on this site or another I frequent, there was a discussion about Eric Dickerson back in the 90's looking slow to his coaches. It was determined that taller players have a tendency to look slow because they have longer strides and as such there legs moves slower than their smaller counterparts. For instance, watch tape on our new draft pick Ryan Switzer; it look's like someone hit the fast forward button when he runs. It only looks that way, because he has smaller leg; his legs have to churn at a much higher rate that is much faster then taller players, to gain the same amount of ground they do with their long strides.

The other thing I pointed out is that Taco dealt with a high ankle sprain for the majority of the season. To get a true idea of what Taco is, you have to look at his last few games in the seasons, where he says he felt his healthiest.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Which is why I brought up the optical illusion of tall players. I'm not sure where, perhaps on this site or another I frequent, there was a discussion about Eric Dickerson back in the 90's looking slow to his coaches. It was determined that taller players have a tendency to look slow because they have longer strides and as such there legs moves slower than their smaller counterparts. For instance, watch tape on our new draft pick Ryan Switzer; it look's like someone hit the fast forward button when he runs. It only looks that way, because he has smaller leg; his legs have to churn at a much higher rate that is much faster then taller players, to gain the same amount of ground they do with their long strides.

The other thing I pointed out is that Taco dealt with a high ankle sprain for the majority of the season. To get a true idea of what Taco is, you have to look at his last few games in the seasons, where he says he felt his healthiest.

LOL.........OMG Im perfect capable of watching film on a guy and telling who has more speed and who doesnt. As far as the ankle, we shall see.

 

[CowboyRoy]

Which is why I brought up the optical illusion of tall players. I'm not sure where, perhaps on this site or another I frequent, there was a discussion about Eric Dickerson back in the 90's looking slow to his coaches. It was determined that taller players have a tendency to look slow because they have longer strides and as such there legs moves slower than their smaller counterparts. For instance, watch tape on our new draft pick Ryan Switzer; it look's like someone hit the fast forward button when he runs. It only looks that way, because he has smaller leg; his legs have to churn at a much higher rate that is much faster then taller players, to gain the same amount of ground they do with their long strides.

The other thing I pointed out is that Taco dealt with a high ankle sprain for the majority of the season. To get a true idea of what Taco is, you have to look at his last few games in the seasons, where he says he felt his healthiest.

LOL........And no, you can tell Switzer is running fast because he is flying by guys.

 

[kazzd58]

Taco's long frame makes up for the speed... just like with a speed rusher without a long frame, his speed makes up for him not having that reach... it can even it self out all on perspective of the position you want for your team... There is more than one way to get pressure on a qb and force mistakes...

i think Minnesota also has those long armed defensive ends. they have no problem getting pressure eon the qb just my opinion...

 

[Denim Chicken]

Damn, I hadn't seen that. The spin move was crazy.

Bonus: That's Lewis with the interception