PITTSBURGH — This isn’t the career Taco Charlton had in mind. The Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker knows players taken in the first round of the NFL draft aren’t supposed to bounce through four teams in five years.

Yet here Charlton is, playing backup to T.J. Watt, selected two spots behind Charlton in the 2017 draft.

While Watt has become a perennial All-Pro and one of the highest-paid defensive players in the league, Charlton is still searching for a place to stick. Charlton, who turns 27 on Sunday, has made peace with his journey.

“When I go out here, I don’t go out here thinking like, ‘Oh, I was a first-round pick’ (who hasn’t made it),” Charlton said Friday. “I just go out here like, you know, I can play good football. (The draft) was so long ago that I don’t really think about it as much.”

Maybe because there’s not much to remember. He struggled to find a role in two seasons with the Cowboys. Ankle and shoulder injuries didn’t help. Neither did a maddening lack of consistency. At one point, Dallas owner Jerry Jones said the team’s scouting department kept waiting for “a major light to come on.”

It didn’t. At least not with the Cowboys, who cut him early in the 2019 season. The Dolphins scooped him up, but again Charlton failed to find a niche. He appeared to be on his way to doing it in Kansas City last fall, collecting two sacks and forcing a fumble in seven games before an ankle injury ended his season.