In allowing Adrian Clayborn and Courtney Upshaw to walk this offseason, the Falcons signaled that they were ready to turn the keys over to Takk McKinley and Vic Beasley full-time at defensive end. The team has made its living rotating heavily in recent years, but with a slimmed-down rotation in the making and Clayborn in New England, there’s little question the pressure to produce falls on the team’s young stars.
That’s why the big question with defensive end doesn’t have much to do with depth, and everything to do with whether Takk McKinley is going to prove to be every bit the breakout candidate he’s being identified as this offseason.