Dan Dierdorf on Taco Charlton

[dbair1967]

Dierdorf is a HOF player and former NFL announcer, now calls Michigan games.

Dan Dierdorf -- NFL Hall of Famer and current Michigan football color commentator -- recently joined ESPN 103.3 FM's "J Dub City" with Will Chambers and Jean-Jacques Taylor to discuss Cowboys first round pick Taco Charlton.

Here are some highlights:

What to expect from Taco

Will Chambers: I wanted to get your thoughts: what can the Dallas Cowboys fans expect to see from Taco Charlton next season?

Dan Dierdorf: Well I think it was a smart choice by Jerry [Jones], Stephen and everyone in the Cowboys organization. I think you get a really solid, fundamentally sound football player. I know everybody's looking for an edge rusher, but Taco can play the run.

Taco has a great motor. And the thing I liked best about watching him over his college career: it seemed that every time he played a game he was better than the game before.

I think he's still an ascending player. He's not one of those guys that you say, 'He's peaked and this is all we're gonna get.' I think Taco Charlton is getting better every game.

Is he inconsistent like scouting reports say?

Will Chambers: We saw six sacks in his last five games, but there's analysis out there that he was inconsistent. What do you think of that analysis?

Dan Dierdorf: I don't see that. I think [if] you break down every single play there's a danger in looking at just one play and trying to make a decision off that. You know, Myles Garrett was inconsistent and yet he was the first player taken in the draft. I'm not sure what that means.

I think Taco; he doesn't have the flash that maybe some of the guys we've seen that went high up in the draft in previous years doing the spectacular things. But Taco Charlton is one of those guys that a coach loves to have on the team. He's a rock-solid good citizen, hard worker, good teammate, great in the locker room and a productive player on the field. I'd be surprised if he wasn't a solid contributing player for the Cowboys for many years.

The Jim Harbaugh effect

Jean-Jacques Taylor: What's the advantage, do you think, of having a college head coach like Jim Harbaugh with significant NFL experience?

Dan Dierdorf: I think it has a lot of different ramifications. One is it helps in recruiting. Let's face it: kids that are in high school, a lot of them look at a university as a pathway to the NFL. I think it's a dangerous way of thinking. Any way you look at it a very, very small minority of high school seniors now playing football in America are gonna end up in the National Football League. But having a head coach who has NFL experience [is] a large recruiting tool.

Secondly, I think Jim Harbaugh runs an NFL-type program in the sense that he runs a pro offense. His quarterbacks can play quarterback in the NFL. They know how to drop back and run that style of offense.

Same thing defensively. Taco Charlton has been coached on the defensive line by Greg Mattison. Greg Mattison used to be the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. Tremendous NFL experience coaching guys like [Terrell] Suggs and on down the line.

Having NFL experience on a college coaching staff is a big deal.

 

[NoMoRedJ]

Remembered him as Frank, Al, and Dan from Monday Night Football!

Remember him and Conrad Dobler with Jim Hart and the Cardiac Cardinals.

 

[MrB]

For years I thought that Dan Dieddorf was the guy on Webster. It wasn't until later that I realized it was Alex Karras.

 

[bbgun]

CNNSI

2017 NFL draft prospect countdown, No. 37: Taco Charlton, DE, Michigan

First thing's first: His given name is Vidaunte, but his mother and grandmother nicknamed him "Taco" as a baby and it stuck. His Michigan career was kind of a slow burn—he had a combined 9.0 sacks and 14.0 tackles for loss over his first three seasons (two under Brady Hoke, one under Jim Harbaugh), then blew up for 10.0 sacks for loss and 13.5 tackles in 2016. He finished his career hot, notching 5.5 sacks over the Wolverines' final four games, including 2.5 in a signature performance at Ohio State. His numbers for the year likely would have been even better had he not missed two September games to an ankle injury. To cap it off, Charlton was a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honoree last season.

Strengths: The team that drafts Charlton will do so because of what it looks like he can become, not necessarily what he is already. There just are not a lot of athletic 6' 6", 277-lb. edge rushers out there, let alone those with the level of production Charlton had down the stretch.

The improvement Charlton showed just from the start of the 2016 season to the end is reason enough for optimism. He improved his hand usage, became more potent converting his speed to power and at least hinted at a better understanding of how to diagnose run plays headed his direction.