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Falcons DE Takk McKinley lashes out over unfulfilled desire to be traded

The Atlanta Falcons pass rusher now is making it clear he wanted out -- and still wants out, even if he can't be traded now.

"These @AtlantaFalcons turned down a 2nd round draft pick when I requested to get traded last year," McKinley wrote on Twitter Wednesday. "The same @AtlantaFalcons turned down a 5th and 6th round draft pick from multiple teams when I requested to get traded this year. I only have 17.5 career sacks."

He finished the tweet with three clown emojis, making it very clear how McKinley feels about the organization that once spent a first-round pick on him.

NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported the Falcons were asking for a fourth-round pick as compensation for McKinley, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, seemingly providing at least some support for McKinley's claim.

Falcons interim coach Raheem Morris, on the other hand, did not appreciate McKinley's social media outburst when asked about it Wednesday.

"Takk will be held accountable," Morris said, via NFL Network's Michael Giardi. "Gotta deal with that as an organization and gotta hit it in the face.

"The wrong way to go about it how Takk is, to pout."

McKinley will walk to another team via free agency in the spring, but he'll first have to finish the 2020 season after he wasn't dealt ahead of the deadline. Consider it two months of unhappiness for a defender who was once so happy about being a Falcon, he shouted into a network television camera on stage during the draft.

As for the sack total, McKinley isn't wrong. Atlanta didn't get the type of production it expected from the former first-rounder in the last two years, and though he has shown an improvement in 2020, McKinley's sack total still doesn't fall in line with that of a former first-round selection. Sacks are an incomplete stat, but if McKinley is trying to make his case for freedom, that doesn't hurt.

It's more likely Atlanta hangs onto McKinley, watches him walk in free agency and receives a compensatory pick for his departure. It's just going to be an awkward couple of months for McKinley and the Falcons.

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