Taco Charlton can’t stand being on the sideline.
The defensive lineman, whom the Dallas Cowboys selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft, took to Twitter Monday to make his plea for playing time.
“Free me,” Charlton, 24, tweeted with the eyes emoji. The tweet was in response to Cowboys COO Stephen Jones citing Joe Jackson’s position flexibility as a reason why Chalrton has been inactive the first two weeks of the season.
The tweet has since been deleted. Charlton followed up with, “Trust me the last thing I want to do is to have to go to social media to get what I want so I can play football again.”
While the tweet itself isn’t an outright trade request, NFL Network reported that Charlton did request a trade during the offseason and that the Cowboys have had recent trade discussions involving the Michigan product.
Interestingly, the Cowboys’ own website produced a story about Charlton’s tweet, opting not to shy away from controversy. The story says Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was asked about Charlton’s tweet Monday night.
“Yeah, I really don’t spend much time on social media,” Garrett said.
The possibility of making Charlton part of a deal for the Dolphins’ Minkah Fitzpatrick had been floated, but Miami dealt the safety to the Steelers on Monday night.
Charlton appeared in 11 games last season for Dallas, starting seven. He had 27 total tackles, one sack and one fumble recovery.
