Falcons, TE Kyle Pitts Agree On Extension

The Falcons have now extended two of their three top-10 picks at the skill positions. They are following their Drake London payday with a Kyle Pitts re-up. Pitts has a three-year deal in place, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.

Given the franchise tag in March, Pitts will now be tied to a three-year, $54MM contract through the 2028 season. The deal includes $36MM fully guaranteed, Schefter adds. While this is not a market-topping tight end accord, the $36MM guarantee number certainly did plenty to entice Pitts, who is coming off a bounce-back 2025 season.

At $18MM per year, Pitts becomes the NFL’s third-highest-paid tight end. George Kittle and Trey McBride saw 2025 extensions move the TE bar past the $19MM-AAV mark, and as this space has continually tabbed this position as being underpaid, teams with quality tight ends continue to take advantage of a glacial market. As wide receivers are now past $42MM per year, the NFL does not have a $20MM-AAV tight end.

Still just 25 despite being drafted in 2021, Pitts has been a somewhat frustrating player — one who regressed after a 1,000-yard rookie year. Pitts’ saw his second season shortened by injury (an MCL tear) and said midway through the 2023 season he was not 100% recovered. Pitts still averaged more than 12 yards per reception in 2023 and ’24, playing every Atlanta game in that span.

The Falcons had seen quarterback issues cover most of Pitts’ rookie contract, as they have been unable to find a reliable passer since trading Matt Ryan to the Colts in 2022. Ryan is now back as the team’s top front office presence, and he now has the interesting distinction of authorizing an extension for a player he once targeted as a quarterback.

Ryan and GM Ian Cunningham signed off on a $15MM Pitts franchise tag, doing so after the 6-foot-6 tight end’s 928-yard season. Although it could have made sense for the Falcons to carry Pitts on the tag to evaluate him further, they will opt for what may become a team-friendly deal — as the TE market remains stuck south of the $20MM-AAV bar while the receiver market soars.

I mentioned in a recent Trade Rumors Front Office post that teams with solid pass-catching options at tight end are in good positions, contract-wise, and Kittle’s deal may well remain in the lead until the Raiders pay Brock Bowers (though, Tucker Kraft and Sam LaPorta are candidates to leapfrog Pitts’ contract and the two NFC West TEs’ deals first).

Pitts’ $36MM guarantee at signing now leads the pack at tight end. Kittle, who is seven years older than Pitts, received $35MM up front on his second 49ers extension. McBride is the only other TE who collected more than $30MM at signing, landing $32.5MM from the Cardinals last year. Pitts has not matched McBride’s pace, but he is nearly a year younger despite entering the NFL a season prior. Atlanta franchise-tagging the former Florida standout also gave him a baseline negotiating point, and he will accept a strong guarantee package in lieu of pushing the AAV bar higher than Kittle and McBride did.

The Falcons made Pitts the highest-drafted tight end since the merger in 2021, with Terry Fontenot‘s first pick as GM going to the ex-Gators star. Chosen fourth overall — behind three quarterbacks — that year, Pitts proceeded to join Mike Ditka as the only rookie-year tight ends to clear 1,000 receiving yards (Bowers has since become the third rookie TE to do so). Pitts tallied 1,026 yards as a rookie, though he only scored one touchdown. Pitts has topped out at five TDs in a season (2025); that came at a key point on his career timeline, as it paved the way for a franchise tag and now this payday.