Cowboys Ex Taco Charlton 'Falls Up,' Signs With Super Bowl Chiefs

The Dallas Cowboys Former First-Round Pass-Rusher Taco Charlton Was Waived By the Miami Dolphins - But Then Immediately Signs With The Super Bowl Kansas City Chiefs

FRISCO - After a tumultuous couple of days that started when the Miami Dolphins on Thursday waived defensive end Taco Charlton - despite his status as the team's 2019 leader in sacks - Charlton has landed on his feet ... "falling up'' to employment with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs have agreed to a 1-year deal with DL Taco Charlton, a source tells Yahoo Sports.

— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) May 2, 2020

Charlton, a former first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys who was released and then signed by Miami after Week 2 of the 2019 season, fell very much out of favor with the Cowboys. In Miami?

He certainly had a moment or two, as Charlton played 10 games with Miami and ended the season with a team-high five sacks. On the other hand ... Charlton was a healthy scratch for a handful of games late in the 2019 season, suggesting that he was falling out of favor with the Dolphins coaching staff as well. It's been reported that Dolphins bosses didn't like his attitude and it was certainly true in Dallas that coaches felt they couldn't get him to "plug in'' (as one put it) to their wishes.

But now? A fresh start with a title contender.

Charlton, still just 25, had a cap hit of just under $2 million for 2020. But the Dolphins move on even as their defensive line seems thin and unsettled. ... and the Chiefs get themselves a reclamation project.

The 6-6, 270-pound Charlton, a product of the University of Michigan, was on occasion thrust into a first-team role during his time in Dallas following his first-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. In that draft process, he benefited from the war room support of then-defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli, who combined with personnel boss Will McClay to make the pick.

Part of the logic then: Dallas needed both a defensive end and a cornerback, and viewed the top of the draft as being thin on the former and deep on the latter. So Taco was chosen high, and in the second and third rounds, the Cowboys selected Chidobe Awuzie and Jourdan Lewis, two cornerbacks who are still with the team.