The 2017 NFL Draft class is set for a big week this week. While the 2020 draft has just passed us by, those talents drafted back in 2017 are facing the prospect of having their 5th-year club options picked up or declined by their respective teams. For the Miami Dolphins, the team has a duo of former first round pass rushers on their roster from that year — former Dallas Cowboy Taco Charlton and Charles Harris, who Miami made the No. 22 overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft. Miami’s decision on both players should be quite easy.
Thanks, but no thanks.
The Dolphins scooped Taco Charlton up off the waiver wire in September of 2019, preserving his rookie contract and putting the team in position to latch onto his services for an extra year in 2021. But Charlton, despite some splash plays, did not live up to the standard of a 1st-round pick — so much so that he was a healthy scratch by the end of the 2019 season for the Dolphins. With such a horrid pass rush at their disposal, not getting on the field is about as bad of an indictment as you could possibly find.
But to Charlton’s credit, he did log 5.0 sacks for Miami in 10 games for the Dolphins — which is 1.5 more than Harris has been able to log through 41 contests in Miami.
Neither talent was able to make a dent in the Dolphins’ drought for production rushing the passer last season. If it was ever going to happen, last year would have been the year for the breakout to come. But alas, there was no epiphany to be had, which makes for no decision at all this week.
Expect the Dolphins to decline both options before the deadline and potentially move on from both players before the start of the 2020 NFL season. The arrival of players such as Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah make retaining Charlton and Harris a pretty pointless measure.
