Taco Charlton Lands 49ers Contract; Cowboys Drafted DE in 1st Round in 2017

Taco Charlton is headed to the Bay Area.

The San Francisco 49ers signed the seventh-year defensive end to a one-year contract Tuesday. The 49ers will be Charlton's eighth team he has played for in his career.

Charlton was a first-round pick in 2017 for the Dallas Cowboys and spent two seasons with the team before stints with the Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Charlton's tenure with the Cowboys was notable for its brevity. His two-season stint following his rookie contract is among the shortest in the franchise's history for first-round picks, and he has struggled to latch on elsewhere as well. He has only completed one full season in his career, his rookie season with Dallas, and has 11.5 career sacks and 95 total tackles across 60 NFL contests.

Charlton slides in at third-string on the 49ers right defensive end depth chart behind Nick Bosa and Clelin Ferrell. Bosa is currently engaged in a contract holdout, so adding Charlton as depth could be a response from the organization.

San Francisco was the top-ranked defense by ProFootballReference in 2022 and went 13-4 in the regular season. They reached the NFC Championship, where they fell 31-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles.