Falcons defensive end Takk McKinley had left shoulder surgery, according to his social-media account.
"They are kind of finalizing through some of that now," Falcons coach Dan Quinn said in December after McKinley was placed on injured reserve. "They are going through the medical process with the doctors and second opinions and such. If it does, hopefully it would be something that wouldn't be long-term, but it could affect his offseason."
McKinley, tried to play through the injury, leaving the game against the 49ers on Dec. 15 after four defensive snaps. He was placed on injured reserve Dec 17.
McKinley had shoulder problems at UCLA and was coming off a March 2017 shoulder surgery before the Falcons traded two draft picks to select him 26th overall in the 2017 draft.
“In week 11, we posted how he likely tore his labrum in his left shoulder and how he was tough to play through it,” wrote Dr. David Chao on his website, profootballdoc.com. “In fact, on Twitter he appeared to have liked our tweet providing somewhat of a confirmation. In week 15, he re-aggravated the left shoulder and now his season is done. He will likely have surgery but will be ready well ahead of training camp in next season.”
Chao was an NFL doctor for the San Diego Chargers for 17 seasons.
McKinley started 13 of the 14 games he played in and had 3.5 sacks and 13 quarterback hits. He finished the season with 29 tackles.
Quinn didn’t want to address any medical situations and offseason surgeries at the end-of-season news conference.
“I won’t comment on all those today,” Quinn said Dec. 30. “Yeah, of course they are. But he (Julio Jones) is a warrior, and just the attitude to compete and battle. That’s been consistent with him. There were a number of guys that played with injuries, and I would say that’s what I would look at as a warrior, and I told a number of the players there will be some remarkable acts of brotherhood, but you’ve got to look for it.
“He was one that was very clear to see — Ricardo Allen, (Damontae) Kazee played, we saw (Isaiah) Oliver come back, Matt Ryan. I could list a number of them.
“(Austin) Hooper was another one (against Tampa Bay in the finale) that was battling through it. They weren't going to back off. They weren't going to stop going.”
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