Taco: What should we expect?

[jobberone]

Ups and downs.

 

[Knotamus]

..he didn’t impress me his first year and I hope he gets better... when a guy goes in the first round I expect more, not just against the some of the weakest competition I’m embarrassed you have such low standards. You must not have been a fan very long or you’re content with the mediocre results this team has had over the past 20 years.

Naw, it’s not low standards bud, it’s called having realistic expectations. If you wanted Taco to start ripping off sacks his first year, it was never going to happen.

Using hindsight glasses, I’ll use TJ Watt as my example. Of all the 1st Rd DEs last season, TJ Watt was the best “productive” guy with 7sacks, yet only managed 3 the last 9 games. Using your “lesser competition” calculator... I’ll subtract the three sacks he had against the Browns in two games. That leaves Watt with 4sacks. So, I just keep things in perspective.

At the end of the day.. I don’t think you’ll find many people that loved the pick, but I do like his upside and I do expect more his second year. (As I stated in an earlier post). I was simply pointing out some positives ab the player. You pointed out the negative. I’ll continue to be optimistic about Taco, bc there’s really no reason not to be at this point.

Not sure how questioning how long I’ve been a fan had anything to do with this tread

 

[CowboyRoy]

One of the big question marks for the upcoming season is Taco Charlton. What is he? What should we expect? What should his contribution be?

He was a first round pick. From my point of view a first round pick should not be a complete project. A bottom of the first round player may not be "starter ready" but he should "flash potential" on a frequent enough basis to justify the pick and inspire confidence that he will eventually be "the guy".

In my eyes Taco failed that reasonable test last year and underperformed his draft status. That does not mean he is a bust, can't redeem himself, or eventually be "the man" but it does seem to indicate that he was a bit of a reach.

What are reasonable expectations for him this year, after a year of weight training, NFL experience and NFL coaching? I think the floor expectations are that he "should be" a starter. If not he is way behind his draft position. Moreover, he should also be at least an average starter at his position in his second year. Otherwise he is behind the curve.

What do I expect out of Taco? I expect him to be way above average against the run. He should be sealing off the end with the best of them. Reality? I think he will be close to that this year.

What do I expect out of Taco in pass rushing? I expect him to get at least 8 sacks. I think barring a bit of luck he will fall short of that.

Summary. I expect Taco to underperform his draft status. I think he will eventually be a solid but very unspectacular player for the first few years of his contract. He will eventually be an average starter at DE even if it's not this year.

I think Taco was drafted two rounds to early for his skill level. That's not the end of the world, but it was not a great use of a first round pick. I believe we could have drafted a player of Taco's ability level in the 3rd round. That's not the end of the world, obviously, but getting any less than an average starter out of Taco is significantly underperforming his draft status.

Side note: For those of you who think it's ok that Taco finally perform in the last year of his contract and then we are forced to let him walk or sign him to a big contract (THATS A BIG FAIL) because you can sign a guy like that in free agency.

based on last year, I wouldn't expect much. rotation guy. 5 sacks

 

[xwalker]

First of all, I never said he wasn’t worth it. I did say I didn’t like the pick, he didn’t impress me his first year and I hope he gets better. It’s hilarious that you don’t want to take into consideration the competition he was playing against. If you just want to chalk it up to they’re all professionals and he’s just a rookie then go for it.

I happen to evaluate both sides of the ball and when a guy goes in the first round I expect more, not just against the some of the weakest competition in the league. “Frankly” as a “fellow fan” I’m embarrassed you have such low standards. You must not have been a fan very long or you’re content with the mediocre results this team has had over the past 20 years. Jerry loves fans like you!

If he is a good pick then that means you were wrong.

You have an incentive (not being wrong) to believe that he was not good last season.

I call this Broaddus-ing. I define it as continuing to criricize a player because that player being bad would prove that you were correct about the pick.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Taco was pretty soft last year. Almost no flash.

What do you expect in his second year?

Soft? BS.

He was just fine holding up against the run. His issue was learning the hand and footwork that Marinelli had him using. Remember he just came off a year 2 gapping at Michigan and now he was expected to use lean and 1 arm technique.

As it was he improved game by game with his technique as the year went on. Word is that he has put on upper body strength which will help him extend and disengage. He showed good burst and quickness as well and the ability to stack and set the edge.

 

[Alexander]

There is absolutely no sound football reason why Taco should be so disliked by fans.

I would say his sack celebration counts.

 

[Stash]

Here's some perspective for those that obviously need it:

Career stats from a very similar comp to Taco Charlton, Greg Ellis:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/ElliGr20.htm

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/C/CharTa00.htm

Note the size/weight comparison.

6'6" 271 lbs compared to 6'6" 270 lbs.

A draft what do ya know? Both had just 3 sacks as rookies too!

One key difference, Ellis was drafted at #8 overall, while Taco was drafted at 28th overall.

Perspective.

 

[NorthoftheRedRiver]

Meh. It was probably unrealistic, but I just expected more from a first round pick. If he's going to bloom, this would be the time to do it.

 

[Knotamus]

I would say his sack celebration counts.

Ok. You got me...I’m not a huge fan of his sack celebration either.

 

[aria]

Naw, it’s not low standards bud, it’s called having realistic expectations. If you wanted Taco to start ripping off sacks his first year, it was never going to happen.

Using hindsight glasses, I’ll use TJ Watt as my example. Of all the 1st Rd DEs last season, TJ Watt was the best “productive” guy with 7sacks, yet only managed 3 the last 9 games. Using your “lesser competition” calculator... I’ll subtract the three sacks he had against the Browns in two games. That leaves Watt with 4sacks. So, I just keep things in perspective.

At the end of the day.. I don’t think you’ll find many people that loved the pick, but I do like his upside and I do expect more his second year. (As I stated in an earlier post). I was simply pointing out some positives ab the player. You pointed out the negative. I’ll continue to be optimistic about Taco, bc there’s really no reason not to be at this point.

Not sure how questioning how long I’ve been a fan had anything to do with this tread

It’s fine to be optimistic, I was more optimistic about last season then I am about this season. I expect more out of Taco this year as well, just as I expected more out of him last year. I’m not the one who originally criticized your opinion and said I was embarrassed that another fan would have such unrealistic standards for a first round pick.

 

[aria]

If he is a good pick then that means you were wrong.

You have an incentive (not being wrong) to believe that he was not good last season.

I call this Broaddus-ing. I define it as continuing to criricize a player because that player being bad would prove that you were correct about the pick.

Lol! That’s hilarious bruh! I assure you I couldn’t care less about whether I was right or wrong about Taco. IMOF I would LOVE to be wrong because that means Taco and therefore the Cowboys would be better.

Never mind, you’re right, I hope he continues to unimpress so I can win the Internet pissing contest

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I expect him to be a consummate professional and thus to work as hard as he can be be the best player he can be.

 

[xwalker]

Lol! That’s hilarious bruh! I assure you I couldn’t care less about whether I was right or wrong about Taco. IMOF I would LOVE to be wrong because that means Taco and therefore the Cowboys would be better.

Never mind, you’re right, I hope he continues to unimpress so I can win the Internet pissing contest

It's a general concept. Most people that don't like a pick then criticize that player unless they are All-Pro.

 

[aria]

It's a general concept. Most people that don't like a pick then criticize that player unless they are All-Pro.

Well then I’m apparently not “most people”. I criticized Zeke even though he is all pro. I still support JG although I’ve said if he doesn’t make the playoffs this year then I’ll join the fire JG group of haters. I hate Jerry but it doesn’t mean I want to the Cowboys to continue to fail just so I can criticize him. The list goes on.

 

[Verdict]

Soft? BS.

He was just fine holding up against the run. His issue was learning the hand and footwork that Marinelli had him using. Remember he just came off a year 2 gapping at Michigan and now he was expected to use lean and 1 arm technique.

As it was he improved game by game with his technique as the year went on. Word is that he has put on upper body strength which will help him extend and disengage. He showed good burst and quickness as well and the ability to stack and set the edge.

He looked really bad rushing the passer last year. Let's hope he has improved significantly this offseason.

I think he was overdrafted but hopefully he will eventually be a contributor. He was NOT a significant contributor last year and he really didn't even flash potential. Hopefully he can get it done.

I hope he can play the strong side this year well enough to be the starter. I don't ever see him being a weak side end. I am also hoping Tapper plays well enough (and is healthy enough) to show that he can man the weak end so that we can trade Lawrence off for a king's ransom and draft another end with one of the picks from a Lawrence trade.

 

[cmoney23]

9 sacks or more.

 

[ESisback]

You needed to whine about sumfin

They shorted me on bacon at the breakfast buffet! Wah!

 

[CouchCoach]

To me, Charleton is Marcus Spears, a good player off a better defense. The LSU D and Michigan D were both better than the Cowboys. And Charleton wasn't their best D player as Spears wasn't either.

I prefer a pick like Vander Esch, the best player on an OK D to spending a 1st on a good player off a better D.

In this current NFL, I expect any 1st rounder, not a QB, to start and he did not take his spot. He's our first 1st in a while not to start and play some significant time but I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he might be a slow developer but he has to come on this season. He has to make Lawrence expendable.

 

[CouchCoach]

They shorted me on bacon at the breakfast buffet! Wah!

I got it.

 

[Cowboy4ever]

Putting arbitrary numbers as expectations based on where they were drafted is just silly imo. It all depends on how they use him and his role on the D when is on the field. For example, let's say another DE, I will use Gregory just for a name, is really really good at rushing the QB but is a liability against the run, where as Taco is really good at both. So they use Taco on traditional run downs/distance and use Gregory on traditional pass downs/distance. Taco only ends up with 4 sacks and Gregory has 12. But Taco got more snaps, had more tackles and really helped this team being a dominate run stopping D,, is he still a bust because he didn't get the 8 sacks you are setting as an expectation because he was taken in the 1st?