Takkarist McKinley is a shining beacon of being interesting in an otherwise quiet Atlanta Falcons social media scene. McKinley seems to be much less shy about sharing his ideas on Twitter, at least. In his latest post, the third-year defensive end has promised to cut off his dreadlocks if he doesn’t get at least 10 sacks next season.
So far, McKinley has posted 13 sacks, 25 QB hits and 14 tackles for a loss in 31 games. Those are not bad numbers by any means, but also not what you’d hope for from a first-round pick.
Sack numbers are of course notoriously fickle, dreads or no. The Falcons would probably settle for more consistency from week to week. McKinley has some work to do, (for what it’s worth, Pro Football Focus ranked Takk No. 70 at his position last season) but Atlanta can help get him there by adding more pass-rushing threats to the defensive line rotation.
