Disgruntled defensive end Takk McKinley, a first-round draft pick of the Falcons in 2017, took to Twitter to voice his displeasure about still being a member of the team Wednesday morning, a day after the NFL’s trade deadline passed.
Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris said, “Takk will be held accountable” for his public comments.
McKinley has missed playing time recently with a groin injury. Last week he announced on Twitter he would be not be traded.
The Falcons received some interest, but passed on offers made before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline.
On Wednesday, McKinley confirmed he requested trades in the past two seasons. He said the team passed on offers for a second-round pick last year and fifth- and sixth-round picks this year — from multiple teams. The team refutes it received any such offers.
The Falcons never received any trade inquiries involving a second-round draft selection last season, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation.
Although the Falcons listened to trade proposals regarding McKinley in recent weeks, the compensation never was deemed acceptable enough to the team’s liking to make a deal.
These @AtlantaFalcons turned down a 2nd round draft pick when I requested to get traded last year.
— Takkarist McKinley (@Takk) November 4, 2020
The same @AtlantaFalcons turned down a 5th and 6th round draft pick from multiple teams when I requested to get traded this year. I only have 17.5 career sacks.
🤡🤡🤡
“I just got that message when we came off the field in the walk-through,” Morris said. “Obviously, Takk has a groin injury and won’t be out there today. Takk will definitely be held accountable for his actions and everything that goes along with it. That’s with him missing today and all of the things he’s missed in the past.
“You definitely have to go through all the issues and go through all the stuff you have to deal with. You have to deal with it as an organization. You have to hit it right in the face.”
The Falcons had not discussed a plan of action with McKinley. He likely could be suspended, released or just be designated inactive for the time being.
“No, we haven’t,” Morris said. “I guess it just came out when we were out at walk-through. We had a great walk-through for Denver (Sunday’s opponent). We’ll figure it out as we go. We are dealing the players that are going to help us go out and be 1-0 this week versus Denver right now. We’ll deal with that later.”
McKinley, apparently, has been unhappy for a while. He wasn’t pleased that the Falcons didn’t pick up his $10.3 million fifth-year option.
“I don’t know if it’s being disgruntled by being on the team,” Morris said. “I think it’s immaturity. Right now, it’s just an immature way to act about the situation.”
It’s unreasonable to believe the Falcons would have turned down a second-round pick for McKinley last season, and that’s likely some misinformation from the agent community.
The Falcons reportedly wanted a fourth-round pick for McKinley, but teams didn’t feel he was worth that much. Other, more productive, defensive ends, Everson Griffen (sixth/fifth) and Carlos Dunlap (seventh) returned low draft picks to the Cowboys and the Bengals.
“Unfortunately, the trade deadline for the NFL is not as popular as the one in the NBA,” Morris said. "People get confused with the NBA trade deadline and our trade deadline and how those things work. We are trying to make it a little bit more popular, we are trying to make it a little bit better for the guys, but that’s not how it naturally works in the NFL.
“I’ve been coaching in this league for a while. Very rarely do trades happen. Very rarely do things happen. The wrong way to go about it is definitely the way Takk is handling it now.”
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, one of the captains, hopes that McKinley’s antics will not be a distraction for the team.
“I think it’s simple,” Ryan said. “You worry about the week of prep. The guys that are on the field. You get everybody dialed in that way. We have a job to do as players, this week. It’s on the guys that are on the practice field to go out there and find a way to get ourselves ready to play Sunday. That’s the message that I give to our guys.”
Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, also a captain, described a “hands off” approach to McKinley’s disagreement with the team.
“Just let that keep going, how it’s going,” Jarrett said. “I’ll let that work itself out. Clearly, there are some things that he has to work out with what he’s got going on.”
The Falcons plan to talk with McKinley before taking action.
“As soon as we get an opportunity to talk to him about those things and how he’s handling that situation, that will be the first and foremost thing you handle first,” Morris said. "Then you figure out about getting him healthy as far as his groin, and then you figure out if he’s even going to be on the team. If that’s even possible at this point.”
Overall, McKinley has been a disappointment. The Falcons selected him when T.J. Watt was still on the board. Watt has developed into an All-Pro pass-rusher for the Steelers.
“We’ll move forward, and we’ll move forward swiftly," Morris said. "We’ll move forward accordingly. But right now, the one thing that I do know is that he won’t be able to help us for the Denver Broncos.”
Morris, 44, has not embraced social media and had addressed McKinley and his expectations face to face.
“All my conversations with Takk have been how our focus on him was to get him back as healthy as we could, so he could go out and show at best ability, at his best timing for our football team this year, to go out there and perform,” Morris said. "That’s been me and him, personal conversations.
“That’s kind of what I alluded to, going to social media. I don’t have social media. So, I won’t be talking to you guys on social media. Anything, I’ve got to say, I’ll tell you up-close and in-person, in a conversation. That’s how I choose to handle my business.”
The Falcons were hoping that McKinley would be motivated by not getting his option picked up.
“You’ve got to be honest, you get the memo from (former general manager) Thomas (Dimitroff) and (former coach) Dan (Quinn) at the combine that they weren’t going to pick up his option,” Morris said. “Then after that, he kind of went silent. I do know he went away and did a great job of training, getting his body in the best possible shape to come back this year and absolutely tear it up. I know his mind was right. He had his training regimen down. I felt like he had his family members around him and he was out on the West Coast.”
Morris believes the injury in the second game of the season took McKinley to a dark place.
“We he came back, he looked different,” Morris said. "He was a different person. He was in better shape. He looked like he was ready to go.
“Then he had a really good game against the Seattle Seahawks. He came and was playing really well against the Dallas Cowboys and got hurt. Let’s just 15 plays into that games … then you start to have those troubles again when you have to sit out and are not able to play.”
McKinley issues come out when he’s not playing football.
“When he’s playing football and playing at a high level, he’s a great person to be around,” Morris said. “When he’s in the mode right now, where he doesn’t want to talk and kind of shies away from personal interactions and contacts, that’s a problem.”
The Falcons may just retain McKinley and not play him. Let him reach the open market as a free agent and then possibly get a compensatory pick for him in 2022. That compensation likely would be higher than anything the Falcons could have received on the open market.
“There is always an option to suspend,” Morris said. "There’s always an option just not to play. There is always an option for us to anything we do, I know a lot of his money is guaranteed, but we’ll obviously talk to (president) Rich (McKay) about that and go through this whole process.
“Obviously, we’ll talk to Takk and get that thing done. We are not going to sit here and talk about it through the papers or through media or however you want to do it. That’s a grown-man conversation with another grown man.”
AJC correspondent Jason Butt contributed to this article.
Falcons' next four games
Broncos at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
Bye week
Falcons at Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Raiders at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29
Saints at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6
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