FEBRUARY 24: The Falcons have officially applied the tag to Pitts, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.
FEBRUARY 23: Kyle Pitts is set to spend a sixth season in Atlanta. The veteran tight end is in position to receive the franchise tag, as first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. 
Pitts will not reach the market based on today’s news. Instead of testing free agency for the first time in his career, Pitts will remain with the Falcons for 2026. The tight end tag is projected to cost $16.32MM, and the team will carry that cost on its cap sheet unless a long-term deal is worked out.
[RELATED: NFL Franchise Tag Recipients Since 2010]
The possibility of the franchise tag has steadily increased in this case, with Pitts enjoying a strong 2025 season and boosting his market value along the way. The former No. 4 pick set a new career high in receptions (88) and touchdowns (five) this past year, bouncing back from a highly underwhelming 2022-24 stretch. Pitts has expressed interest in playing in new head coach Kevin Stefanski‘s offense, and he will be able to do so for at least one year. Many around the NFL expected a tag in this instance, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler confirms.
As a rookie, Pitts earned a Pro Bowl nod and topped 1,000 yards. The Florida alum was unable to match expectations beyond that point until his 2025 bounce-back campaign. Questions about inconsistency have been raised, and it will be interesting to see if a long-term commitment winds up being made by Atlanta. New president of football operations Matt Ryan was once Pitts’ teammate, putting him and the Falcons’ revamped group of decision-makers in an interesting position.
Atlanta is currently slated to have roughly $26.5MM in cap space, with a number of other priorities on offense to be sorted out this spring. A Kirk Cousins release is among them, while wideout Drake London and running back Bijan Robinson are each eligible for extensions. Keeping those two in the fold well beyond 2026 will be costly, especially if a multi-year commitment winds up being made to Pitts. At the age of 25, the second-team All-Pro could command a lucrative pact from Atlanta this year or outside suitors in 2027 in the event he reaches free agency.
Stefanski’s ability to improve an offense which ranked just 19th in scoring in 2025 will be key. Pitts figures to play a large role in that effort regardless of whether or not he agrees to a new Falcons pact over the coming months. July 15 represents the deadline for franchise-tagged players to work out a long-term pact with their respective teams.
Duh. All the honor your contract pitchfork holders should be mad about this. He did. Now he’s hostage another year without a choice.
Le’Veon Bell may disagree w/ you!
A hostage making almost $17 million. Weird.
Look at everyone salivating over him in previous articles. He’d easily get more guaranteed in an open market and have multi-year certainty.
Yell at the NFLPA. They agree to the terms; not just the owners.
There is no way he would make more than that AAV on a multiyear deal.
It’s all about putting food on the table for the kids.
Hard to argue with the price. The tag for him is a hair over what Darius Slayton’s cap number for 2026.
Glad to have him back. He’s hitting his stride and he’s healthy too
But didn’t he play better when Cousins was qb? He is going to be released. Stef will probably get a bit more out of him like Fannin and Njoku played well enough in system.
Coach will address that
The new coaching regime isn’t going to fix anything. Weak, weak hires.
For people who don’t know ball
Atlanta fans are like abused spouses gaslighting themselves that this time will be different. Good luck at the shelter.
Very topical and necessary analogy thank you
He did play better with Cousins because of two things:
1) He does not run precise routes, which prevents him from getting much separation. This means you have to have a QB who can not only control the defense with his eyes, but also one not afraid to throw it ahead of the break and hope the timing is perfect for that one foot of separation. Cousins does that well. Penix still waits to see the separation first, and that closes down quickly in the NFL.
2) If in zone coverage, he is getting better at sitting down instead of wandering aimlessly. Once again, Cousins was far superior to manipulating the defense and make those sit-downs work.
He is absolutely not a polished tight end. Routes are sub-par, blocking is sub-par. But he has gotten better. Part of the reason his catch totals went up are due to Drake being out, but the Falcons focusing more on run-first play-action when Kirk was in helped control the LB’s and S’s a bit more, which helped Pitts.
It saddens me that the Falcons went after Penix. I understood some of the reasoning for it at the time, but if that debacle had not happened I think the Falcons make the playoffs last year and might have actually been dangerous with that better D and Kirk running the offense. Now, we are going to be stuck in another 2-3 years of craptitude because of the QB situation. Might as well bring Ridder or Mariota back.
would be the perfect kelce replacement
That 16 million won’t do the Chiefs any favors. They need to spread what little they will have over several players on offense.
Why don’t MAHOMES take a pay cut, maybe then they could spread the money around.
I believe Mahomes did sign an extremely long-term contract, that way it could consistently be renegotiate, so it would give the Chiefs more cap flexibility.
They just re-did his deal giving the Chiefs more cap space this year already.
The Chiefs have to find a few more WR’s, new RB’s and whatever happens at TE. Some even say the OL needs help also. They are still 3+ million over the cap. Too many people think the Chiefs are just going to re-load on a bunch of vets and run at the Super Bowl. That’s not going to be the case. They may sign one decent veteran player but they are going to have to re-build through the draft mostly this off-season.
He restructured his deal for the 4th consecutive year. This one created about $43.5M in cap space. They still have work to do to get in the green I think? Not totally sure
The problem is, every re-structure just rolls more money into the next years cap, making it tougher and tougher for them to get anyone in FA that’s worth a crap. Mahomes isn’t losing any money.
It’s the Brady/Patriots thing all over again. Everyone kept saying Brady was such a team guy to re-negotiate, but he wasn’t losing any money. The difference is, the Patriots were smart about folding in youth, youth, and more youth as often as possible. That and the lure for vet FA’s to come in for cheap just to get a shot at a title. Chiefs are not that juggernaut, despite what they want to believe.
Saw a previous article that stated his TD production year to year matched his time in the league –
1st year – 1 TD
2nd year – 2 TD
3 – 3
4 – 4
5 – 5
Had some yardage yet does production match $
It really depends, I always get worried when a player has a breakout contract year, especially when you hear countless rumblings of said player taking plays off and lacking consistent effort.
Regardless of his talent, I have heard a few different people who cover the Falcons not wanting him back, due to his lack of effort and rarely giving it 100% on any consistent basis.
I would be leary of giving him a long-term commitment, but based off his talent alone, and believing a player can change if he’s surrounded by the right atmosphere, I wouldn’t mind the 49ers signing Pitts for somewhere around 3 years 50 million, with 30 million guaranteed.
I think Pitts could thrive if he was around a coach like Kyle, a GM like Lynch, and a lockerroom led by Kittle, Juice, CMC, Purdy, Big Trent, Fred Warner, The Hyena, and Nick Bosa, because they would consistently hold him accountable.
There are several other veteran led lockerrooms like the Broncos, Texans, Patriots, Rams, etc. that would be more beneficial for Pitts, but possibly Stefanski can help turn things around in Atlanta and help Pitts reach his potential.
I agree with you on the breakout year, but it is a typical pattern for TE’s in the NFL. A few hit the ground running, but most take a couple of years to ramp up to their true potential.
This is coming from a guy who didn’t like the Pitts pick to begin with and wished we had gotten JaMarr Chase. There is a reason TE’s don’t get picked that high in the draft. His college production was not all that great. His blocking was a zilch. He didn’t finish plays or run routes well. He was basically an athlete with a super high ceiling. Maybe he is starting to reach it, but if they go Chase and went all in on Jonnu for cheap .. maybe .. just maybe .. they would have realized they needed a young TE two years ago and snagged Bowers instead of Penix and I guarantee you that the front office would still be in place and the Falcons would have been in the playoffs last year.
As for Pitts, I don’t mind the tag. Also think it’s a great deal for him. If he proves himself again then his value goes up significantly for that first free agent deal. Even if he doesn’t, he is now set for life if he has any financial sense.
Team was foolish to draft a TE that high when not in position to contend. Luxury pick just like raiders made same mistake.
At least Bowers is exceptional. Pitts is meh at best.
Pitts might not be excited once he sees how pedestrian Stefanski’s offense is..
Will be interesting to see how being tagged affects Mr. Pitts in the motivation department. His “I just work here” statement in 2024 has not been forgotten in the ATL.