Takk McKinley is coming to the AFC North, but he will not be in Cleveland. It’s not for a lack of trying on the Browns part.
The Browns were one of four teams that placed a waiver claim on McKinley after the pass rusher was dumped by the Atlanta Falcons, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport. McKinley joined the Cincinnati Bengals, who had the waiver wire priority over the other teams.
The waiver wire order is in the inverse order of the NFL standings. The 2-5-1 Bengals had the worst record of the teams making claims.
There was some speculation that the Browns had make inquiries with the Falcons about McKinley prior to the trade deadline. McKinley himself helped force his way out of Atlanta by posting on Twitter that the team should have accepted the trade offers he knew they got for his services. The 26th overall pick in 2017, McKinley posted 17.5 sacks in an increasingly diminished role with the Falcons.
