Falcons Decide on Punishment for Takk McKinley’s Tweets

Falcons defensive end Takk McKinley isn’t getting out of Atlanta as soon as he wanted to even after posting some wild tweets this week.

Instead of suspending him or not having him play, coach Raheem Morris came up with another idea and fined McKinley for his poor actions. According to TMZ, the amount is still disclosed.

Morris said in a press conference on Wednesday that McKinley was handling things incorrectly and that he would be held accountable for his actions. Originally, Morris brought it down to being suspended or simply not playing.

“There’s an option to suspend and there’s an option not to play. . . . We’ll talk to Takk and get that thing done,” Morris said, via Jason Butt of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Rumors Around McKinley

Ahead of this past Tuesday’s deadline, trade rumors were swirling around Falcons defensive end Takk McKinley’s name. The Falcons reportedly didn’t budge at trading him or at least get an offer they would have liked.

We found this out on Tuesday…from McKinley himself.

“The Atlanta Falcons aren’t trading me. They have declined a handful of offers,” Takk tweeted on Monday.

But, the tweets didn’t stop there. He then had the courage to publically call the Falcons clowns (in emojis) for not trading him for a second-round draft pick they were offered last year. And we also found out that this year, Atlanta turned down a fifth and sixth-round pick in exchange for him.

Atlantic Journal-Constitution reporter, Jason Butt, jumped on the Falcons side and reported that Atlanta never received a second-round trade offer for Takk. Takk called him out.

McKinley, who has been dealing with a groin injury, hasn’t played in a few weeks. This season thus far, he has eight tackles and a sack in four games.

McKinley’s Fifth-Year Option Declined

When the Falcons declined Takk’s fifth year, he tweeted about the news in a way that seemed like he was relieved he wouldn’t be stuck in Atlanta for much longer.

Here’s what the Falcons said in their official statement:

“We have decided to not move forward with a fifth-year option for Takk and at this time are taking a wait-and-see approach in terms of future contracts. Takk has shown the ability to produce at a high level and we look forward to his production in 2020.’’

Over the past three seasons, McKinley played has played 49 games with 26 starts for the Falcons. He also has recorded 17.5 sacks, including a high of 7.0 in 2018.  Last fall, he tried to play through his shoulder injury but finished with just 3.5 sacks, before having to step off the field and get surgery.

Usually, when players tweet nonsense, they end up deleting it. Takk hasn’t yet which means he probably doesn’t feel that bad.

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