The Browns are getting some of the edge rushing help they’ve been seeking. Cleveland has agreed to terms on a deal with defensive end Takkarist McKinley, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports tweets.
It’s a one-year pact with a base value of $4.25MM that can be worth up to $6MM, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Sounds like the deal is rich on incentives, which makes plenty of sense for a player in McKinley’s circumstances. The UCLA product was the 27th overall pick in 2017, but things never worked out for him in Atlanta. By the end he was butting heads with management and blasting the team on social media, which ultimately led to him getting waived.
A bizarre saga then ensued, with a number of teams trying to claim him to cash in on his potential. He was claimed by the Bengals and then 49ers, but failed physicals with both teams and reverted to waivers each time. He was then finally claimed and cleared by the Raiders, but spent the rest of last season on Las Vegas’ injured reserve.
McKinley has shown plenty of flashes and most metrics graded him very positively when on the field recently, so it’s a nice low-risk signing for Cleveland. The story all offseason was that the Browns were looking for a big-name pass-rusher to pair next to Myles Garrett, and they expressed interest in J.J. Watt, Bud Dupree, and Trey Hendrickson before they signed with different teams.
This McKinley signing isn’t as splashy as one of those other guys would’ve been, but he’s got significant upside. Still only 25, he’s got plenty of time to turn around his career narrative.
Yes finally
Still need a pass rusher opposite Garrett. Carlos Dunlap, Derek Wolfe, Ronald Blair, Adam Gotsis.
I wish they had kept Clayborn, but paying a little over $4 to chase the upside of Takk probably makes more sense than paying $3 million for Clayborn. I’d still add another pass rusher because Takk isn’t a sure thing, but this seems like a fairly low-risk move.
Better pass his physical
This doesn’t resolve the pass rush problem. Gonna have to do better than that.
Low risk move.If he is head case it’s only 1 yr & for $4.25ma minor cost to eat &release.He has talent & high ceiling w/ low floor.At $4.25m a minor hit on cap room for the pos leaves $$ to re-sign Vernon who would happily return to Browns, Wood, & Stefanski where OV produced when healthy but injury so no teams throwing $$. Still cap $$ for more.
I’d love to have Vernon back but since he just tore his Achilles he’d probably be out for most of the year