Taco Time? Charlton is flashing some of the potential that got him drafted in first round
Taco Charlton peered up at the scoreboard and shook his head as he exited the field at Hard Rock Stadium. The final result of the defensive end’s second game as a Miami Dolphin was much like his first: another double-digit loss, another second half in which Miami was outscored by more than 12 points.
Not all was bad for Charlton and the Miami defense in Sunday’s 30-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. It was his second-straight game with a sack. He beat Chargers tight end Sean Culkin around the edge to pull Rivers to the ground for a 6-yard loss in the third quarter, and he celebrated the play by pretending to eat a taco right after.
The Dolphins’ held the Chargers to 10 points through nearly two quarters before giving up 20 unanswered the rest of the game. Charlton finished with six tackles, a tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries, but he wasn’t content with his performance.
“Never satisfied,” Charlton said after the loss. “I’m a competitor, so I like to win. So, just having that feeling, hate seeing us lose, especially when I feel like we could’ve did some things to change the outcome. But something for us to build off of and come back after this bye week ready to go.”
Charlton has been a bright spot for the defense since Miami claimed the former Dallas Cowboy off waivers on Sept 19. The Dolphins signed him to a two-year, $2.5 million deal, and coach Brian Flores said he was happy with what he’d seen from Charlton after just a few hours with him.
“He’s a smart kid, just spending some time with him, “ Flores said the day of Charlton’s first practice with the team. “He understands fronts, rush technique, games and stunts. ... I’m excited within the first few hours with the possibilities and potential. But he’s got to take advantage of that.”
In addition to recording a sack against his former team last week and another one Sunday, the third-year edge rusher has recorded a pair of tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries since arriving in Miami.
“That’s good,” Charlton said. “But that’s what I expect when I play out there. I expect to get sacks. I expect to make plays. Like I said, I’m never satisfied. I gotta do more to help this defense out.
“If we don’t have a win, then I didn’t do enough.”
Charlton was drafted 28th overall out of Michigan in 2017 after amassing 94 tackles, 19 sacks and 16 passes defensed during his college career.
He played in all 16 games as a rookie but tallied just three sacks and 19 tackles for the season. He followed that with four sacks and 46 tackles in 27 games (seven starts) with Dallas in 2018. A shoulder injury kept him out for five games last year, and he underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason.
Charlton was inactive for the first two games of this season with Dallas before earning a fresh start in Miami. He made his Dolphins debut in last week’s 31-6 loss in Arlington.
After Sunday’s loss, Charlton said the final result might have been different if the team could’ve come out of the half with more of a spark and made a few key plays.
“We gotta help each other out,” he said. “The D-Line, we gotta put pressure to help the secondary out and vice versa, so I think it’s something for us to build off of, keep working.”
But he added that despite his disappointment in the loss, he hasn’t been with the team long enough to complain too much about what’s not working.
“I just got here two weeks ago,” he said. “I wasn’t grinding with these guys for camp or nothing like that. I have no right yet to say anything like that. I’m just here to work my a-- off.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2019 at 6:39 PM.