During the first quarter of the Falcons' 29-22 victory against the San Francisco 49ers, defensive end Takk McKinley injured his left shoulder while attempting to tackle running back Raheem Mostert. That shoulder injury, which has been ailing McKinley at various points this year, will cause him to miss the final two games of the 2019 season Falcons coach Dan Quinn announced Monday.
"One tough part of the day, we lost Takk McKinley yesterday in the game," Quinn said. "That's going to turn out to be a season-ending shoulder injury. We'll miss his toughness and physicality for sure."
A first-round pick in 2017, McKinley had come on strong of late, registering three sacks in the three weeks leading up to Sunday's game against the 49ers. Despite having just 3.5 sacks this season, McKinley's effort and physical presence off of the edge has been apparent from the very start and his 13 hits on the quarterback ties him with Grady Jarrett for the most on the team.
Atlanta closes out its season with a home matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars and a road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 17. Although the Falcons won't have McKinley for those two games, Quinn did say that defensive ends Allen Bailey and John Cominsky are expected back this weekend after missing some time.
