Dallas Cowboys: Spotlight shifts to young pass rushers

The Dallas Cowboys will need to see development from their young pass rushers following the suspension of defensive end Randy Gregory.

Before the emergence of defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence as the Dallas Cowboys‘ War Daddy pass rusher, the team invested a first-round selection trying to find one. And that player was Michigan defensive end Taco Charlton, who was selected 28th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Luckily for Charlton, Lawrence’s play would explode later that year, posting a whopping 14.5 sacks and elevating him as one of the league’s premier pass rushers. That production took the pressure off of Charlton, who had turned in a modest 3.0 sack performance during his rookie season.

But the Cowboys knew when they selected Charlton that the 6-foot-6, 275-pound defender was a developmental project. He was selected in the first round despite Dallas having a second-round grade on him. And coming out of college, Charlton was known for being a late-bloomer. A one-year starter for the Wolverines, 6.0 of the 10.0 sacks Taco recorded as a Senior came in his final five games.

In his first season in Dallas, Charlton posted a similarly slow start with his first sack not coming until Week Nine. But during last offseason, Taco started showing signs of development and was projected by some to have a breakout year in 2018. Instead, a shoulder injury seemed to derail Charlton’s growth. He posted just 1.0 sack in 11 games in his second season.

Taco Charlton appears to be on his way to full draft bust status. But the recent indefinite suspension of troubled pass rusher Randy Gregory has placed an even brighter spotlight on the former first-rounder going into his third season. Along with defensive end Dorance Armstrong, a fourth-round selection out of Kansas last year, the young pass rushers in Dallas are now under more pressure to perform than ever before.