{"id":346954,"date":"2025-09-06T18:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/346954\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T18:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T18:14:10","slug":"nfc-south-notes-pitts-otton-saints-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/346954\/","title":{"rendered":"NFC South Notes: Pitts, Otton, Saints, Young"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Falcons rebuffed Kyle Pitts<\/a> trade interest, though with the former top-five pick set to begin a contract year, it is possible the franchise could revisit this topic. Pitts was mentioned as \u201crelatively available<\/a>\u201d this offseason, with the price of a Day 2 pick floated. No Pitts extension is planned<\/a>, but a franchise tag would not be out of the question if the tight end puts together a good contract year. Still, teams indeed viewed the Florida alum as available in the past, per The Athletic\u2019s Josh Kendall<\/a>. The Falcons stumbling out of the blocks this season could reignite the prospect of Pitts being traded during his fifth-year option season.<\/p>\n

How Pitts\u2019 salary would be divvied up in a trade would be a key component in negotiations, as he is tied to a $10.88MM option salary. The later in the season he is dealt, the less money an acquiring team would be responsible for. The Falcons having Pitts would give Michael Penix Jr.<\/a>\u00a0a fairly talented weapon, but if the team intends to make the 6-foot-6 pass catcher a one-contract player, it would make sense to listen to offers before the November deadline.<\/p>\n

Here is the latest from the NFC South:<\/p>\n

Buccaneers extensions for<\/a> Luke Goedeke<\/a> and Zyon McCollum<\/a> have surfaced this week<\/a>, but the team appears through with its preseason paydays. No Cade Otton<\/a> deal is expected, ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler notes<\/a>. Otton would join Pitts as promising TE options in 2026, barring any franchise tags. The former fourth-round pick is interested in a Bucs extension<\/a>, and Tampa Bay is rather good at retaining its own. Next year\u2019s tight end market would stand to include, barring extensions or tags, big names. Travis Kelce<\/a>, Mark Andrews<\/a>, Dallas Goedert<\/a>, David Njoku<\/a> and Isaiah Likely<\/a>\u2018s contracts expire after this season. Otton, Pitts and Likely would be of particular interest as second-contract-seeking players. Otton, 26, is looking to build on a career-best 600 yards and four touchdown catches last season.
\nPro Football Focus rated Alontae Taylor<\/a> as the NFL\u2019s worst full-time cornerback last season, ranking him 116th. The former second-round pick\u2019s perception within the league appears different, as Fowler notes<\/a> the Saints CB is on the extension radar. New Orleans jettisoned Marshon Lattimore<\/a> at last year\u2019s deadline and lost Paulson Adebo<\/a> \u2014 a player the team hoped to re-sign<\/a> \u2014 in free agency. Although the Saints drafted Kool-Aid McKinstry<\/a> in Round 2 last year, they appear interested in a second Taylor contract. He has started 37 career games entering his platform year.
\nChase Young<\/a> is again dealing with injury trouble. The recently re-signed defensive end, who bounced back from neck surgery to play 17 games last season, will miss the Saints\u2019 opener with a calf injury. Young joins Trevor Penning<\/a>, who has been battling turf toe<\/a>, in being ruled out.
\nThe Falcons have not ruled out Darnell Mooney<\/a> for Week 1, but the team has been coy regarding the deep threat\u2019s status after a late-July shoulder injury<\/a>. In other Mooney matters, the team restructured his contract. Atlanta created $6MM in cap space by restructuring Mooney\u2019s deal, ESPN\u2019s Field Yates tweets<\/a>. Mooney is tied to a three-year, $39MM contract \u2014 a deal that includes three void years. The sixth-year receiver\u2019s restructure ballooned his 2026 cap hit to $18.05MM.
\nLast September, Bryce Young<\/a>\u2018s January 2026 extension-eligible date did not appear to mean much. The Panthers were moving toward a 2025 separation<\/a> with a QB they benched. Young\u2019s second-half turnaround last season<\/a>, though, has the prospect of a 2026 payday back in play, per ESPN\u2019s Dan Graziano<\/a>. The Panthers believe the undersized passer has turned a corner in terms of confidence and competitiveness, and Carolina believes the improvement he showed late last year will carry over. While it would be perhaps more newsworthy if the Panthers didn\u2019t believe Young would sustain this form, the prospect of an extension for the 5-foot-10 QB is still notable considering the separation rumors that engulfed him less than a year ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Falcons rebuffed Kyle Pitts trade interest, though with the former top-five pick set to begin a contract…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[14134,223,254,2554,1476,9341,260,6870,6709,224,7,6153,55,6,250,8581],"class_list":{"0":"post-346954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-alontae-taylor","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-bryce-young","13":"tag-cade-otton","14":"tag-carolina-panthers","15":"tag-chase-young","16":"tag-darnell-mooney","17":"tag-falcons","18":"tag-football","19":"tag-kyle-pitts","20":"tag-new-orleans-saints","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","23":"tag-trevor-penning"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115158716604305898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}