Kyle Pitts is getting paid, and the Atlanta Falcons finally made the decision they should have made a year ago.
Pitts and the Falcons agreed to a three-year, $54 million extension that includes $36 million guaranteed over the first two seasons. The deal averages $18 million per year, which slots Pitts third at the tight end position behind Trey McBride and George Kittle.
The timing tells you everything. The extension came before the July 15 deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals, which means Pitts would have played 2026 on his $15.045 million tag if the sides had not gotten this done. Atlanta blinked. Pitts got paid. Everybody moved on.
The bigger question is whether this contract is a bargain or a mistake. Pitts has been maddening throughout his NFL career. He was drafted fourth overall in 2021 out of Florida, immediately posted a 1,000-yard rookie season, and then never came close to matching it. Injuries. Coaching changes. Quarterback carousel. All the usual excuses have been in play.
Last season, though, Pitts finally looked like the player Atlanta hoped they were drafting. 88 catches, 928 yards, five touchdowns in an 8-9 season that ended without a playoff berth. The Falcons decided that finish was enough to bet on, and now they are locked in.
At $18 million per year, Pitts is being paid like a top-three tight end, and the pressure to actually be one just went up. He is 25 years old. His athletic profile still says elite. If he can put together back-to-back healthy seasons, Atlanta is going to look like geniuses.
The other angle here is what this means for the Falcons offense. Pitts is now under contract for three more seasons alongside Michael Penix Jr., Bijan Robinson and Drake London. That is a serious young offensive core. If Zac Robinson can figure out how to actually get all of them the ball consistently, Atlanta could sneak up on people in a wide-open NFC South.
Robinson himself is the linchpin. The offensive coordinator, in his second year calling plays for Penix, has to prove he can design an offense that maximizes what this collection of skill talent can do. Pitts should be a matchup nightmare on every snap. If he is not, the coaching is the problem, not the personnel.
The financial structure of the deal is worth noting too. Two years of full guarantees on a three-year deal is basically a two-year commitment with a team option on year three. That protects Atlanta if Pitts regresses, and it gives Pitts the leverage to hit free agency again while he is still in his prime if things go well.
The NFC South does not have a dominant team. The Buccaneers are aging in place. The Panthers are still rebuilding. The Saints are figuring out their post-Derek Carr identity. Atlanta has a legitimate window to win the division if the offense clicks and the defense takes even a small step forward.
Pitts got his money. The Falcons got their guy locked up. Now the only thing left is to actually turn all that talent into a playoff run, which has been the missing ingredient in Atlanta for what feels like a decade.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
