People need to remember that Taco Charlton was drafted BECAUSE it looked like DeMarcus Lawrence was a bust.
Lawrence was drafted to play RDE, replacing DeMarcus Ware. His rookie season, he had ZERO sacks. Then, they moved him to LDE to play against Right Tackles instead of Left Tackles, and he had 8 sacks in his 2nd year. But then, in his 3rd season, he had only 1 sack.
So, if you're in the Cowboys braintrust, you have to be thinking, "Dang, we traded up to get this guy in the 2nd round, and in two of his seasons, he had ZERO sacks and 1 sack. And he proved he can't play against top Left Tackles, like we hoped he could. We better draft a replacement for him, because there is no way we want to give this guy a 2nd contract, with only 9 sacks in 3 seasons."
So, they looked at the pass rushers still available with the 28th pick. They already had picked up Randy Gregory, who was a much better prospect than Lawrence, to play RDE. Watt played TE and OLB, was coming off of knee surgery, and only weighed 252 lbs. That is definitely NOT the profile of a LDE. At LDE, you want someone who is in the 280 lb range, who can set the corner against the run, and who can take on double teams from the Right Tackle and Tight End. Charlton weighed 277 lbs, and although not a twitchy athlete, projected to be a Justin Tuck/Tony Tolbert type of player (and still projects to that). That is the very definition of a journeyman Left Defensive End - which is what Charlton was projected to be.
And then Lawrence goes out and has a 14.5 sack season. The Cowboys were STILL not believers in Lawrence, and franchise tagged him instead of signing him to a long-term deal. If Lawrence regressed to his previous normal, they could let him walk and plug in Charlton. That didn't happen.
Now, look at it from Charlton's point of view. The Cowboys likely told him to learn behind Lawrence for one season, and then he would become the starter in 2018. Neither he, nor the Cowboys, expected Lawrence to have a break out season in 2017. When the Cowboys franchise tagged Lawrence, Charlton's promised starting position evaporated. The Cowboys tried to move him to RDE, but just like Lawrence, he doesn't have the skills to play consistently well against the big Left Tackles in the NFL. And, in 2018, Gregory came back, and started becoming the player he was expected to be when the entire NFL scouting community rated him a TOP 5 draft pick prospect. So once again, Charlton got sidelined, and he (immaturely) went into a mental funk at the end of last season. "Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick." And Charlton lost heart at the end of last year, when he realized the Cowboys weren't going to give him a starting job.
Fast forward to today, and Charlton now realizes that Lawrence has foreclosed his opportunity to become the starting LDE for the Cowboys. At RDE, although both are starting the season suspended, Quinn and Gregory are legitimate RDE talents. Charlton's personal expectations have been adjusted. Now, the best case scenario for Charlton is to strap on his helmet, and try display his talent for anther team, not the Cowboys, to give him a 2nd contract. He KNOWS his days in Dallas are numbered, especially now that Lawrence has signed the big contract extension. With his expectations adjusted, he is less likely to get discouraged, and I expect we'll see a much better effort from Charlton this season. Charlton needs to use the opportunity to learn as much as he can from Lawrence and the coaches, and then move on to another team.
The reality is 1) if Lawrence had been playing up expectations in 2016, the Cowboys would never have drafted Charlton to begin with, and 2) Charlton top end with the Cowboys is now being a backup to Lawrence. As such, he's never going to be given even a chance to live up to his 1st round pedigree in Dallas. So, it's better for fans to also adjust their expectations, and simply hope for quality play from Charlton for the next two seasons. Just like Martellus Bennett backing up Witten for 4 seasons, Charlton playing behind Lawrence is boxed in, and he is unlikely ever reach his potential in Dallas - unless Lawrence gets hurt.
