Saints signed Taco Charlton, per source
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) April 4, 2022
Of all of the areas the New Orleans Saints have addressed throughout free agency, the defensive line has been a clear focus. The Saints have added defensive tackles Kentavius Street and Jaleel Johnson. Now, as first reported by NewOrleans.Football’s Nick Underhill, they add to the edge with former first-round defensive end Taco Charlton.
Charlton joins a pretty busy edge group in New Orleans with the unit’s leader Cameron Jordan as well as Marcus Davenport, Tanoh Kpassagnon, Carl Granderson, and last year’s first-round selection Payton Turner. Charlton could just be getting a look during training camp much like the Saints have done with other veterans in the past like Noah Spence, but Charlton better fits the mold of the Saints’ edge rushers than Spence did.
This also opens up the possibility of moving Kpassagnon to the interior full-time, an area New Orleans needs some help. All of that though, is contingent upon Charlton making the roster. A team could do a lot worse for itself than giving a former first-round edge rusher a shot though.
Charlton has amassed 92 combined tackles (12 for a loss), 11.5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles in his five-year career. He started his career with the Dallas Cowboys but has joined three teams in as many years of late. He’s taken snaps with the Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, and Pittsburgh Steelers since 2019.
