2017 NFL Draft: Taco Charlton Scouting Report

A lot of the time here on BRB, we do pieces centred around our interpretation of an individual player’s play or his role within a team. I had this roughly conceived notion last off-season during draft time to try and create discussion through highlighting one particular prospect and providing game tape on them for you guys to watch and then share your feelings on that prospects tape in the comments below, rather than just reading or watching Brett or Matt’s excellent analysis and posting a comment on the analysis rather than the prospect himself. What we want to do here is flip the script and ask you guys to drive the conversation on a particular prospect.

Naturally, not everyone wants to talk about a RB who get’s drafted in the fourth round, but it’s still an idea that I think will be interesting to see in action. Maybe we end up creating a scouting community based in our comment section. I’ve always valued listening to various people’s opinions (regardless of whether I agree with them or not), because at the very minimum it makes me aware of something that I may have missed or overlooked. Everybody gets things wrong; it’s completely natural, especially when you are attempting to define something as subjective as ‘’Is this guy a good football player or not?’’. Starting is often times the hardest part, because you just have no idea of where to look or what to look at and place value in. For that, I would recommend asking yourself a few questions:

1. What traits or skills do I value for each player at each position (e.g., WR = Speed, DL = Hand Usage)?

2. Do I see any of those in the college player I am watching?

3. What do I think the best player at each position does well? (e.g., Aaron Rodgers = Arm Strength + Accuracy on the Move,, Von Miller = Athleticism and Technical Proficency)?

4. Do any of the players that I’m watching show any combination of those skills?

These are just some basic ideas to ask yourself what you value in a particular player. There’s a lot more to it than just that, but it’s a start.

With the preamble done and dusted, let’s move onto talk about today’s prospect.

Name: Vidauntae ‘’Taco’’ Charlton

School: Michigan

Class: Senior

Position: Defensive End

Height: 6’6

Weight: 272 lbs.

Accolades: All-Big Ten 2016 First Team

Tape:

2016:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLWezZ1wS-0 (vs. Rutgers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9ZoN63ekR0 (vs. FSU)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9vvdwrCT3Y (vs. Wisconsin)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tDyvspf4O0 (vs, Penn State)

2015:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0kJgiIGrlE (vs, Northwestern)

THINGS TO NOTE:

His name isn’t actually Taco.

Jokes aside, defensive end isn’t that high on the Texans’ list of needs this off-season, considering the fact they have Jadeveon Freaking Clowney and Whitney Mercilus as their current edge aficionados, but consider the usage of Jadeveon Clowney as one of the 3-4 DEs and the fact that Romeo Crennel’s scheme (soon to be Mike Vrabel’s) has been known to shift around his edge rushers in order to create mismatches. With John Simon also slated to be a free agent and the injury history of J.J. Watt and Clowney, it might not be the worst idea in the world to invest in another young pass rusher to develop behind the Texans’ current stable of DE/OLB studs.

For Charlton’s tape, I want us to focus on a few things

-What does Charlton do well? When you watch his tape, what stands out?

-Where do you feel he’s lacking? What are his general failings?

-Considering this is his only season with double-digit starts, how does his tape from 2015 compare to 2016?

-Where on the defensive line is Charlton lining up? Is it a similar position to one in which you’d see within the Texans’ defense?

These are just some things worth thinking about as you go through each piece of tape. Please watch some film and share your thoughts on Mr. Charlton in the comments below.

P.S. If you’re all interested in more of these, please let us know. I cannot read minds.