Report: Falcons fine DE Takk McKinley for tweeting they should have traded him
Takk McKinley’s Twitter criticism of the Atlanta Falcons’ decision not to trade him has apparently cost him some money.
The Falcons fined the former first-round pick an undisclosed amount of money for his tweet on Wednesday, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Takk McKinley said Falcons turned down multiple trades
In the tweet in question, McKinley claims the Falcons turned down a second-round draft pick when he requested a trade last year, then rejected a fifth- and sixth-round pick from multiple teams when he requested a trade again this year.
Amazingly, the tweet remains up as of Thursday evening.
These @AtlantaFalcons turned down a 2nd round draft pick when I requested to get traded last year.
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.
🤡🤡🤡— Takkarist McKinley (@Takk) November 4, 2020
The Journal-Constitution reported that McKinley’s claims were false. While the Falcons reportedly spoke with teams about a McKinley before this year’s trade deadline, talks have apparently never progressed to the point of an actual trade proposal like McKinley said.
Michael Giardi of NFL Network previously reported that the Falcons were asking for a fourth-round draft pick, so teams might have just been aware of that and never made a real fifth-round offer.
After news of the fine broke, McKinley posted a video of himself smiling at the camera while a song played on his Instagram story. His song choice: “I Don't Give a F---” by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz.
One person decidedly not amused by McKinley’s online activity was Falcons interim head coach Raheem Morris, who said Wednesday the player would be “held accountable” internally and said his tweet amounted to pouting.
Raheem Morris on Takk McKinley’s tweet: “Takk will be held accountable...gotta deal with that as an organization and gotta hit it in the face.” Calls it an immature act. “The wrong way to go about it how Takk is, to pout.” #Falcons @nflnetwork @AroundTheNFL
— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) November 4, 2020
McKinley reportedly did not practice on Thursday and is out for Sunday’s game against the Broncos with a lingering groin injury.
Even without a trade, the 25-year-old McKinley is almost certainly nearing the end of his four-year Falcons tenure, in which he has posted 17.5 career sacks, 79 tackles and two forced fumbles. He is a free agent after this season, and it would be in the Falcons’ interest to keep from here on out for draft pick compensation reasons.
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