![\"pitts.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pitts.jpg\")
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Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Atlanta Falcons<\/a> will not allow former No. 4 overall pick Kyle Pitts<\/a> to hit free agency this offseason, as the team plans to place the franchise tag on its star tight end, per CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n It was expected Atlanta would place the franchise tag on Pitts as it works towards a new deal. The Falcons have until July 15 to sign Pitts to a contract. If he were to play on the tag in 2026, Pitts would make a fully-guaranteed $16,007,000, according to Spotrac<\/a>. The Falcons are expected to have $26,462,519 in cap space, which ranks No. 15 in the NFL\u00a0per Over The Cap<\/a>. Jones also mentioned the possibility of Pitts being tagged and traded if there was a suitor that offered enticing-enough compensation. Atlanta’s first selection in this upcoming draft comes at No. 48 overall.<\/p>\n Pitts was considered to be one of the top tight ends set to hit free agency, headlining a list that includes Travis Kelce<\/a>, David Njoku<\/a>, Isaiah Likely<\/a>, Dallas Goedert<\/a>, Cade Otton<\/a> and Chig Okonkwo.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitts is coming off a career year in which he caught 88 passes for 928 yards and five touchdowns. He delivered what was the best outing of his NFL<\/a> career during a Week 15 prime-time victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>, in which he caught 11 of 12 targets from Kirk Cousins<\/a> for 166 yards and three touchdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Florida product made the Pro Bowl in 2021 after becoming the first rookie tight end to cross 1,000 yards receiving since Mike Ditka in 1961, and was named a Second Team All-Pro this past season. In 78 career games played, Pitts has caught 284 passes for 3,579 yards and 15 touchdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitts is the second reported player to be in line to receive the franchise tag, joining Dallas Cowboys<\/a> wide receiver George Pickens<\/a>. Running back Breece Hall<\/a> of the New York Jets<\/a> is another player to watch.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images The Atlanta Falcons will not allow former No. 4 overall pick Kyle Pitts to hit free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2593,2591,2554,487,9341,257,3395,4131,224,1999,7,467,4698,1981,294,6153,109554,109553,2859,255,1591,6,15,2592,250,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-771678","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-draft","11":"tag-atlanta-falcons-news","12":"tag-atlantafalcons","13":"tag-breece-hall","14":"tag-cade-otton","15":"tag-dallas-cowboys","16":"tag-dallas-goedert","17":"tag-david-njoku","18":"tag-falcons","19":"tag-fantasy-football","20":"tag-football","21":"tag-george-pickens","22":"tag-isaiah-likely","23":"tag-jonathan-jones","24":"tag-kirk-cousins","25":"tag-kyle-pitts","26":"tag-kyle-pitts-contract","27":"tag-kyle-pitts-stats","28":"tag-matt-ryan","29":"tag-new-york-jets","30":"tag-nfc-south","31":"tag-nfl","32":"tag-nfl-draft","33":"tag-nfl-free-agency","34":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","35":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116121557449113935","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771678","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=771678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}