The trade deadline ahead of the new NFL season is March 11th, but ahead of this date, the Atlanta Falcons have used their Franchise tag to retain the rights to tight-end Kyle Pitts Sr. for the 2026 season.
Speaking via SiriusXM NFL Radio, the Falcons new general manager Ian Cunningham said the decision revolved around the desire to get a full evaluation of Pitts under the new brass.
In his words;
“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 does this mean?
This $15.045 million tight end franchise tag means that Pitts will make roughly $15.045M in 2026,which shows that the franchise still believe in Pitts, and Cunningham also confirmed this by saying – “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 do the numbers say?
Pitts was the fourth overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, but failed to reach elite status while featuring for Atlanta from 2022-24.
According to ESPN stats, the 25-year-old led the 2025 Falcons with 88 receptions, 118 targets and 928 receiving yards. In over 17 games, he tallied five touchdown receptions.
