Are The Saints About To Cut This Former First Round Pick?
The New Orleans Saints will have to make a lot of roster cuts this year to trim the team down to 53 players. Its a process that happens every year, but the Saints find themselves in a tough, but overall good, scenario...they have too many quality players.
Sure, the team lost their new starting tackle last week, rookie Trevor Penning (foot surgery), but the rest of the offensive line looks great. Their wide receiver corps is probably as deep as its been to start a season in a decade, running back depth is strong, and on defense it looks even better.
But if the defense has depth prior to the cuts have to be made, there are going to be some talented guys that get waived to get down to a 53 man roster. That might include a former First Round NFL Draft pick.
Taco Charlton was the 28th overall pick in the First Round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was selected by the Dallas Cowboys after a successful career at the University of Michigan.
His rookie year didn't go as planned, with Charlton getting just 19 tackles and 3 sacks in 16 games, which he didn't start any of. During his second year in Dallas, he did start 7 games, but again had single digits sacks, with just one, and 27 tackles.
After his time in Dallas ended in just two years, he spent 2019 with the Miami Dolphins, 2020 with Kansas City, and 2021 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Over those three seasons, his best year was 2019, where he gathered 5 sacks for the Dolphins. His stops in 2020 and 2021 only accounted for 2.5 sacks and 25 tackles combined between the two seasons.
Now he's spent the summer with New Orleans, and has been catching some attention. With some Saints reporters even suggesting that Charlton's already made the roster...
Now that doesn't mean that Charlton is safe before the 53 man roster cuts, and ultimately it doesn't mean he remains on the roster by week 1. But its a good sign.
Charlton obviously has talent on the football field, he's shown it before. Perhaps it will just take someone to unlock that potential. The Saints have the leadership in the front office, coaching staff, and roster to possibly do that. Charlton has already shown chemistry with veteran Saint defensive lineman Cam Jordan, and Head Coach Dennis Allen is a defensive-first coach. So this might be a perfect storm to unleash what everyone thought Charlton would be when he became the 28th overall draft pick.