Hey, remember Takkarist McKinley? No? Really? Raider Legend Takk McKinley? Seriously? All right, well, let me refresh your memory.
The former UCLA product was a Falcons first-round pick in 2017. Midway through his fourth season in Atlanta, he was waived. Then the Bengals claimed him, but he failed the physical and was waived again. Then the 49ers claimed him, but he again failed a physical and was waived again. Then the Raiders finally came up in the waiver order and put in their claim. And he stuck. Sort of.
McKinley was injured and soon after the Raiders brought in onboard, they sent him to injured reserve. That’s where he stayed the rest of the season.
With his rookie contract up, he was headed for free agency. The Raiders would have liked to bring him back, but as of day two of free agency, McKinley is set to become a Brown.
Browns are signing Takk McKinley, per source. One year deal that could reach more than $4M.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 16, 2021
On the surface, this makes absolutely no sense for the Raiders. They paid him for a half a season and he will never step on the field for them.
Dig deeper and it isn’t entirely fruitless.
They may have hoped he would be able to return for them last season should they have made the postseason. Hopes that died before the season was over, so there was no reason to even attempt to get him on the field.
Add that his one-year, $4 million deal should factor into the compensatory pick formula, and it’s possible his little turn on Raiders IR could yield them a late-round comp pick in 2022. Hopefully, that’s worth it to them.
For now, we’ll just have memories of what might have been for the young pass rusher with 17.5 career sacks. The Raiders will pay Yannick Ngakoue far more ($13 million per season) to see what kind of pass rush he brings to the table.
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