Falcons castoff says he’ll show Browns he’s all business now

Cleveland gives former first-round DE Takk McKinley ‘fifth’ chance.

Takk McKinley admitted he “lost” himself and the way he wanted to play football a couple of years ago en route to his tenure with the Atlanta Falcons unraveling.

But McKinley said he now has “a great mindset” and is thankful to join the Browns, whose general manager, Andrew Berry, has thought highly of the defensive end’s talent since before the 2017 NFL Draft.

“Sometimes a fresh start is the best thing for everyone,” McKinley said Friday, “and I’m just very, very excited to be a part of the Cleveland Browns, knowing how bad they wanted me.”

McKinley passed his physical and signed the one-year contract to which he agreed Tuesday. The deal has a base value of $4.25 million and can reach $6 million with incentives.

McKinley said he’s determined to give the Browns an improved version of himself after undisclosed developments in his personal life caused him to lose his way earlier in his NFL career.

“I’m older now and I’m more mature now,” McKinley said, speaking from Browns head

Defensive end Takk McKinley was a first-round draft choice in 2017 but he first asked Atlanta to trade him in 2019 and the Falcons gave him his release last season.

quarters. “I understand, yes, I may have some issues outside of [football], but when I’m on that grass, nothing else matters. I’m just huge on just learning from my mistakes.”

McKinley, 25, said he has made a lot of mistakes.

He had a nasty breakup last year with the Falcons, who drafted him in the first round (No. 26 overall) in 2017. In early November, he tweeted he had asked to be traded in 2019 and 2020 but the Falcons had turned down offers from other teams. He used clown emojis to mock the organization. A week later, the