It's no secret that Takkarist McKinley was one of the worst Atlanta Falcons' draft picks in recent memory. He makes the James Pearce Jr. trade-up look like child's play. After giving one of the most electric NFL Draft speeches ever heard, we expected him to blossom into a star, yet he never did.
McKinley lasted just 3.5 seasons in Atlanta and has been out of the NFL since 2024, as not only is he a bad football player, he's a head case. But what if the Falcons came to their senses in 2017 and never traded up for him? They easily would've been better off, especially had they drafted T.J. Watt instead.
While Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox was re-drafting every team's worst pick of the century, this is exactly what he did with the Falcons. Just imagine how the pass-rush would've looked instead. Watt likely would've prevented the Dirty Birds from ever being in that lengthy pass-rush purgatory.
The Atlanta Falcons take TJ Watt over Takkarist McKinley in an alternate universe
Since this alternate universe seems like a much better place, let's dive into the ripple effect of this. In the real world, Watt went four picks later, where he developed into a Defensive Player of the Year and one of the best pass-rushers of the generation, so he'll definitely earn a gold jacket when he retires.
Compared to the 20 sacks McKinley racked up in 53 career games and 25 starts, Watt's 115 sacks, 136 tackles for loss, 244 QB hits, and over 500 tackles across 135 career games is a drastic improvement. Watt would become the the best edge rusher in franchise history with total ease.
Knox noted that across his first two NFL seasons, McKinley was off to a good start. He recorded a combined 13 sacks before a shoulder injury hindered his production, and we all know what happened next. He requested a trade out of Atlanta, and the saga eventually resulted in his release in 2020.
The UCLA product publicly chastized then-GM Thomas Dimitroff for not accepting a second-round pick in exchange for him. even though that would be the Falcons losing value. Although in hindsight, Dimitroff definitely should've taken that, since he wasn't worth more than a bag of chips at this point.
When this saga was going down, McKinley revealed that the Falcons declined a second-round pick for him in 2019, and later declined an offer of a fifth and sixth-round pick. But if they drafted Watt, not only woult it have given Dimitroff some Advil, he would've revolutionized a dormant Atlanta pass-rush.
The Falcons haven't had a truly elite pass-rusher since John Abraham, and the eight-time Pro Bowler would be exactly that. In Pittsburgh, he 's made six All-Pro teams and was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, so he likely would've been just as dominant for Atlanta in this alternate universe.
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