Kyle Pitts is not going anywhere. The Atlanta Falcons have locked up their 25-year-old tight end with a three-year, $54 million extension that includes $36 million fully guaranteed and runs through the 2028 season. The new deal replaces the short-term franchise tag the team had been using to control his rights and signals that the Falcons are ready to run more of their offense through him.
The agreement was first reported by Adam Schefter and confirmed after Pitts' agency, Athletes First, announced the contract on social media, according to ESPN. That reporting notes the contract averages about $18 million per year and guarantees Pitts $36 million over the next two seasons.
Money and what it buys
The roughly $18 million-per-year price tag places Pitts behind only George Kittle and Trey McBride among tight ends in average annual value, according to the Falcons. Atlanta framed the extension as a middle ground: serious money for Pitts in the short term, with some long-term flexibility for the front office. "Kyle's, again, a guy that is here working like crazy. Takes coaching," head coach Kevin Stefanski said in the team's report. The club also pointed out that the extension wipes out the roughly $15 million franchise tender Pitts would have been playing under this season.
Why Atlanta pulled the trigger
Inside Flowery Branch, there had been an argument for waiting. The franchise tag gave the new regime a full year to evaluate Pitts before committing. But the team ultimately decided it had seen enough to bet big, according to reporting in The New York Times. That coverage highlights Pitts' late-season surge in 2025 and the staff's belief that he can be moved around the formation as a matchup problem. The shorter, guarantee-heavy structure effectively serves as a bridge between risk and reward while the rest of the roster continues to be rebuilt.
The upside and the risk
Pitts did his part to make this decision easier with a strong 2025: 88 catches, 928 yards and five touchdowns. At the same time, his body of work is uneven enough that the guarantees are not exactly a no-brainer, analysts caution. As For The Win/Yahoo Sports notes, statistical breakdowns show that Pitts has been held under 30 receiving yards in 30 of his 78 career games, with production often arriving in short, explosive bursts. One of those came in 2025, when he rolled up 395 yards in a four-game tear. That boom-or-bust profile has split opinion on whether Atlanta moved too quickly or simply locked in a rising star before the price climbed even higher. For now, the deal gives Pitts a runway to prove he can be the weekly mismatch nightmare the Falcons once envisioned when they drafted him.
For Falcons fans, the message is straightforward: the front office believes in Pitts' rare skill set and wants him as a centerpiece while the rest of the roster is still taking shape. The contract keeps him in Atlanta through 2028, takes the immediate franchise-tag drama off the table and lets the team turn to other business, including a future extension for Bijan Robinson as training camp creeps closer, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Whether this goes down as a shrewd short-term buy or an overreach will come down to one thing: how often the Falcons get the 2025 version of Kyle Pitts over a full season.
