{"id":709282,"date":"2026-01-27T16:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/709282\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:13:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T16:13:16","slug":"thatd-be-dope-top-free-agent-gives-preferred-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/709282\/","title":{"rendered":"“That’d Be Dope” – Top Free Agent Gives Preferred Destination"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts enters free agency following the best season of his young career. Selected with the fourth-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft<\/a>, the Florida product recorded over 1,000 yards as a rookie and appeared destined to be the league\u2019s next great tight end. However, his next three seasons left something to be desired, but he finally came alive in 2025. Starting and appearing in all 17 games, Pitts finished the season with 88 receptions for 928 yards and five touchdowns, all of which were the best or second-best marks of his career.<\/p>\n

Factoring in his production, athletic ability, and age, Kyle Pitts is easily the best tight end set to reach free agency, but he may not leave the Falcons. The team recently hired former Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski<\/a>, and Pitts seems open<\/a> to re-signing and playing over him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019d be dope in general as a room and just for morale as an offensive piece, [with] the tight end being one of the focal points in it,\u201d Pitts said.<\/p>\n

Kyle Pitts Open To Re-Signing With Falcons, Playing Under Kevin Stefanski<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why Kyle Pitts would want to stay with the Falcons and play for Stefanski. In addition to the familiarity of his situation, Stefanski ran one of the most tight-end-friendly offenses in football during his time with the Browns. Despite constant turnover at the quarterback position, Stefanski helped rookie third-round pick Harold Fannin<\/a> finish his inaugural campaign with 72 receptions for 731 yards and six touchdowns. Before that, the head coaches\u2019 scheme consistently had David Njoku among the top tight ends in receptions and yards.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that, even though he will become a free agent at the start of the league year, Kyle Pitts is not allowed to negotiate with other teams right now. The legal tampering period begins a few days before the start of the league year, which means the Falcons are the only team that can extend him right now.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, this will probably come down to money. NFL players have an incredibly narrow window of opportunity to earn their paychecks, so they should chase the biggest payday. The only question is whether the Falcons have the financial capability to match the highest offer.<\/p>\n

Show Me the Money<\/p>\n

As of this posting, the Atlanta Falcons have a respectable $17.4 million in available cap space, and they can create more by parting ways with expensive veterans like Kirk Cousins<\/a>. This likely means they can afford to sign Kyle Pitts to a long-term deal, especially if they structure it in a way to lower his cap hit in 2026.<\/p>\n

However, this comes with an asterisk, as the Falcons must figure out what to do with the quarterback position before they worry about Kyle Pitts. Michael Penix tore his ACL, Cousins clearly isn\u2019t the answer, and the team does not have a first-round pick. They\u2019ll need to sign someone to play the game\u2019s most important position, and a signing like that could be expensive. If the Falcons go after a top option like Malik Willis, then perhaps they won\u2019t be able to afford Kyle Pitts.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Brett Davis \u2013 Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts enters free agency following the best season of his young career. Selected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2591,2554,224,7,6153,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-709282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons-news","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-kyle-pitts","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115967951764320664","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709282","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=709282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}