Falcon Report

Saving the Falcons: Vic Beasley, Takk McKinley and Charles Harris have something in common, and it isn't necessarily good

Since Vic Beasley flopped last season after the Atlanta Falcons picked up his fifth-year option, Takk McKinley was destined this season to have team officials fold their arms before even thinking about giving the defensive end a new contract.
Terence Moore|
Saving the Falcons: Vic Beasley, Takk McKinley and Charles Harris have something in common, and it isn't necessarily good
Saving the Falcons: Vic Beasley, Takk McKinley and Charles Harris have something in common, and it isn't necessarily good

Fool me once, shame on you.

Fool me twice, and it means you're involved with the management of the Atlanta Falcons, and you didn't learn from deciding to pick up the $12.3 million fifth-year option on defensive end Vic Beasley before last season.

Falcons officials learned, by the way.

Here's how we know: They essentially gave defensive end Takk McKinley an ultimate last week that said the following: You need to produce this season during the fourth and last year of your rookie contract, or unlike what we did with Beasley, we'll whack you before we take a chance that you'll look shaky in Year 5.

That's a fancy way to say the Falcons declined McKinley's fifth-year option last week.

During McKinley's three years with the Falcons, he has been underwhelming between his trips to surgeons for three shoulder surgeries. This isn't  exactly what the Falcons expected after they made this 6-foot-2, 250-pound former All-Pac 12 player the 26th pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. 

Then again, McKinley did need shoulder surgery after the NFL combine that year, but so much for major details.

Two years before McKinley, the Falcons grabbed Beasley with the eighth pick overall of that NFL draft, and it worked for the 2016 season, when Beasley led the league with 15 1/2 sacks while helping the Falcons reach the Super Bowl.

Beasley hasn't been the same since then.

Likewise, the Falcons' pass rush has been nonexistent.

Only the Miami Dolphins finished with fewer sacks last season than the Falcons' 28, which led to the Falcons saying goodbye to Beasley during the offseason. Which contributed to the team not exercising that fifth-year option on McKinley.

Which also is why the Falcons took a gamble last week on acquiring former first-round pick Charles Harris from the Dolphins with a seventh-round pick.

Harris was a three-year bust in Miami.

Oh, boy.

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Terence Moore
TERENCE MOORE

I started as a professional sports journalist in 1978 at the Cincinnati Enquirer after I graduated from Miami (Ohio) University, and I’ve been doing the same thing ever since. I also appear on national television, and I’m part of a weekly TV show in Atlanta. I’ve done everything from ESPN to MSNBC to The Oprah Winfrey Show. As for writing, I’ve gone from working for major newspapers in San Francisco and Atlanta to operating as a national columnist at AOL Sports, MLB.com, Sports On Earth.com and CNN.Com. I’ve covered a slew of sporting events. I’ve done 30 Super Bowls, numerous World Series and NBA Finals games, Final Fours, several Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and other auto races, major prize fights and golf tournaments, college football bowl games and more. I’ve also won national, state and local awards along the way.

Home/News