Takk McKinley‘s time with the Falcons has come to an end. Atlanta has waived the defensive end, a former first-round pick, they announced Monday afternoon.
It was widely reported that the Falcons were shopping the pass-rusher ahead of last week’s trade deadline, but last Monday McKinley announced he wouldn’t be traded, saying Atlanta turned down a handful of offers for him. If that’s true, then it’s pretty strange the Falcons would have chosen not to take some draft compensation only to cut him loose a week later. We heard last week that the team had been seeking a fourth-round pick for him in trade talks.
The 26th overall pick of the 2017 draft, McKinley will now be subjected to waivers and any team can claim him. He’s only owed a little under $900K for the rest of the season, so there’s a good chance we see a team submit a claim this week. Since the Falcons declined the fifth-year option on his contract back in April, he’s set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.
If he isn’t claimed, there figure to be a number of interested suitors on the free agent market. There are a handful of contending teams who could use edge rushing help including the Titans, who just released Vic Beasley and are dealing with an injury to Jadeveon Clowney, and the Seahawks, who did already trade for Carlos Dunlap.
The UCLA product entered the league with a lot of fanfare, but like most recent Falcons defensive draft picks, he didn’t pan out in Atlanta. He had six sacks as a rookie and seven the next year, but regressed to 3.5 last year despite starting 13 games and appearing in 14. He was only playing a part-time role in the four games he played with them this year, racking up eight tackles, seven quarterback hits, and one sack.
He only turned 25 last week, and still has a lot of theoretical potential. He blasted the team on social media this week for not trading him and allegedly turning down past deals on the table, making the situation untenable. He’ll likely benefit from a fresh start, and it’ll be interesting to see where he lands. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear something.
Wow come to Cleveland we need some help at defensive end
You don’t need his help. Dude is a basket case
Pats should take a chance on him they need pass rushers and players who can actually tackle guys
Former 1st rd pick for a team devoid of front 7 talent .. c’mon Bill!!
Seattle is who will grab him or at least they should
I do believe he will end up there, as players love Carroll and he will be back on the West Coast. He might even re-invigorate himself there for a short burst.
exactly what i was thinking @case7187
We need all the help we can get
I doubt they’ll be in the mix, but the Steelers don’t have great depth options on the D-line and they’ve gotten gashed without Alualu the past two weeks.
To the Jets!
“Sack the Quarterback “
Dude effectively roasted himself on twitter by claiming he wasn’t worth a fourth round pick. I wish him luck, but it does not appear as though his work ethic is high enough to counter the adjustments of opposing teams
Put him in a 3-4 OLB role and he could flourish. I never liked him with his hand on the ground. Always thought he would have been a star in Pittsburgh.
A lot of these guys who were DE’s in College NFL Teams tried to make OLB’s some who were OLB in College teams have tried to make DE’s. Does not work in General unless you have a special guy. There are different versions to of the 4-3 and 3-4 defenses. Some feature basically a Stand up DE which is basically what Demarcus Ware was with the Cowboys as an OLB. Chris Doleman had 3.5 sacks in 32 career games as an OLB one Season Kevin Greene played DE or was listed at that at least 3 sacks. Freeney’s production went down when he did it moved from DE to OLB. While Robert Mathis had his best season as an OLB. Charles Haley was more Dominant as an OLB. Then you have Khalil Mack who is hard to rate because he has played both DE and OLB in the same seasons.
The Teams with the worst records have 1st Crack at him. So that means the Jets. Jags, Giants, Cowboys, Washington, Chargers, Texans and Bengals. He is basically a pass rush specialist who has not had much production 49 games 17.5 sacks 25 starts. He had one good yr in College. You have to look at the film, and not take the combine as Seriously as some teams take it plus you have guys who played DE in College who teams try to make OLB’s in the pros and most of the time that does not work. Like all these DT’s in College that NFL teams try to make DE’s. There is a big difference between a 4-3 defense and a 3-4 defense. If you look at the early days of the 3-4 you did not have 300 lb DE’s playing. Guys like Fred Dean were sort of playing out of Position as a DE. He was a 230 pound DE. Plus the NFL Lists him with 28 sacks which is a joke He had 93 career sacks but that number is unofficial due to the NFL’s joke of a Sack Record which the #1 single season guy is Deacon Jones with 26 in 14 games but in 2 playoff games he had 6 so that would give him 32. He is 3rd all time in sacks.
Another player for Dallas takes from the Dumpster bin
Another bust and bad pick by the ole falcons … glad we got rid of that awful gm