In the seemingly unending search for pass rush, the Raiders were expected to put in a claim for Takkarist McKinley who had been waived by the Falcons this week. The problem is that the Raiders have won too many games this season to have had a real shot at him.
After week three of the season, the waiver order reverts to the current records of each team. That puts the Raiders at 18th in the waiver order, so it would take at least 17 teams to pass on McKinley in order for him to be coming to Las Vegas.
The former first-round pick has 17.5 sacks in his four NFL seasons, so he wasn’t likely to make it far down the waiver order. He made it through seven teams before the Cincinnati Bengals claimed him.
McKinley was born in Oakland and grew up in the nearby East Bay city of Richmond before attending UCLA for college. His 10.0 sacks and 18.0 tackles for loss as a junior earned him the 26th overall pick in the 2017 draft by the Atlanta Falcons.
The Raiders currently have just nine sacks this season as a team. Five of those belong to Maxx Crosby. Next up is Carl Nassib with 1.5 sacks. The rest of the team’s edge rushers have yet to record a sack.
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