The Atlanta Falcons ensured tight end Kyle Pitts would be around for at least one more season, using the franchise tag on the former first-round pick.
, new general manager Ian Cunningham said the decision revolved around the desire to get a full evaluation of Pitts under the new brass.
"When you get in this role -- I think I was hired January 29th and free agency comes up March 11th -- there's a lot of decisions that need to be made, and you don't want a player of Kyle's caliber to be able to go and hit the open market," he said. "So we use the mechanisms that we have in place, like a free agent tag, to allow ourselves a little bit more time to evaluate and get to know him, and the rest of the team. So being able to get him under the franchise tag, that lets you know how we feel about him and feel like he has a bright future in this league."
What the tag really says: We're playing it by ear.
The $15.045 million tight end franchise tag is significant cheddar for a Falcons club without a ton of cap space. The figure makes Pitts the fifth-highest-paid TE in the NFL by annual value. He's been far below that in consistent production.
The No. 4 overall pick in 2021, Pitts came out of the gate flying, earning 1,026 yards in his rookie season. He struggled mightily for the next three years, never getting to the 675-yard mark in any campaign. In 2025, the TE bounced back with a strong end to his season. His 88 receptions and five receiving TDs in 2025 were both career highs. He came shy of hitting the 1,000-yard mark, ending the season with 928.
The stretch run showed what Pitts can be at his best -- a matchup nightmare in space, able to run away from linebackers and out-size safeties in the passing game. However, his blocking struggles are significant, and he's had drop issues. Those are no small concerns for a player making north of $15 million.
The tag offers Cunningham, president of football Matt Ryan and new coach Kevin Stefanski a year to see if Pitts can finally stack back-to-back productive seasons. If he can, they'll be in line to extend him next year for big money. If not, the club will move on cleanly.
Even keeping Pitts, the Falcons head into free agency still needing to add additional receiving weapons and to bolster the TE room, specifically with someone who can better handle the blocking assignments the position requires in Stefanski's offense.
