Cowboys defensive end Taco Charlton has signed his rookie contract today, according to a report from ESPN's Todd Archer. Dallas selected Charlton exactly two weeks ago today with the 28th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Terms of the contract are not yet known, but the NFL rookie wage scale takes a lot of the mystery out of things. Forbes recently projected the salaries for all first-round picks and had Charlton, as the 28th pick, making about $10 million over the four years with $5.4 million guaranteed. The official numbers should be close to that.
If Chartlon becomes the impact defensive end that the Cowboys are hoping for, he will be a steal for the duration of this contract. A $2.5 million salary is what quality backups make on the defensive line.
Also, because he was a first-round pick, Charlton could eventually get the fifth-year option that pays an average of the top salaries at his position. Because he was drafted outside of the top ten, Charlton's fifth-year salary would be calculated using the 11th-highest DE salary down to the 25th-highest.
The real benefit here, unlike years prior to the rookie wage scale, is that there will be no drama about rookies reporting to training camp. Charlton is now officially a Dallas Cowboy and we're all excited to see what he can do!
We've just added some brand new and exclusive t-shirt jersey designs to our FanPrint store, including Taco Charlton. Starting at $27.99 for adult sizes.
