Las Vegas Raiders should take a chance on edge rusher Takkarist McKinley

Las Vegas Raiders should take a chance on Takkarist McKinley

Takk McKinley can help the Raiders pass rush

The Raiders are not doing a great job of getting to the quarterback this season despite bringing in two free agents that have done so quite regularly in the past in Maliek Collins and Carl Nassib. They unit has just 9 sacks through 8 games this season, good enough for 31st in the NFL just ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars that are in the midst of a full teardown and rebuild.

The defense is in the bottom 6 in terms of pressures and in a host of other categories and no player on the team besides Maxx Crosby has more than 1.5 sacks. McKinley has only one sack on the season but he has been in and out of the lineup with injury and has not played for the Falcons since Week 7.

He played an average of 14 snaps in three of his four games and in the only game he played most of the snaps in, he registered a sack, one tackle for loss, and six QB hits. That game alone would put him second on the Raiders in QB hits and in a three-way tie for third in sacks.

McKinley has not been the dynamic sack artist hoped he would be when they took him 26th overall in the 2017 NFL Draft but he has given them decent returns with 16.5 sacks in 45 games, including six in his rookie season. He also did so playing less than or just 50% of the defensive snaps so he is putting up solid numbers in limited opportunities.

The former UCLA Bruin has also registered at least 10 QB hits in every season of his career and was well on pace to do so this year with 7 in just 14% of his team’s snaps. He is a talented player and has proven that he can be a situational pass rusher and can help a team that is struggling so much to generate any kind of consistent pass rush.