{"id":854546,"date":"2026-04-05T04:23:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T04:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/854546\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T04:23:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T04:23:48","slug":"falcons-could-still-trade-kyle-pitts-before-2026-regular-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/854546\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons “Could Still” Trade Kyle Pitts Before 2026 Regular Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite receiving a franchise tag, the Atlanta Falcons are still open for business and could wind up trading rising star tight end Kyle Pitts before the 2026 Regular Season. Under a new regime, it\u2019s not surprising that GM Ian Cunningham is open to the idea of moving Pitts and creating a new environment to install a fresh start. Cunningham fueled trade speculation<\/a> once again by stating that while Pitts is a \u201cgreat player,\u201d it\u2019s his job to \u201clisten,\u201d which means that he isn\u2019t shooting down the thought of trading the tight end. While it sounds like the team is committed to retaining Pitts, it shouldn\u2019t be a shock if he\u2019s moved on night 1 of the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Even though Pitts had a slow start in at least two of his four seasons as an NFL player, Pitts made strong strides during the 2025 campaign. The tight end finished with 88 catches for 928 yards and a career-high five touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Falcons \u201cCould Still\u201d Trade Former First-Round Pro Bowler Kyle Pitts \u2013 Top 3 Fits<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been much smoke about Kyle Pitts sitting out of the Falcons\u2019 training camp this offseason. However, after hearing Cunningham\u2019s comments, it might be the right thing for the team to dissect whether the Falcons are committed to him. This might be the route that the Falcons take, and he would have the upper hand in negotiations either way.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the team is likely to trade Pitts since they have star RB Bijan Robinson\u2019s<\/a> contract to worry about. Robinson is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027, but it\u2019s anticipated that the team will give him a monster contract. This likely will spell the end of Pitts\u2019 tenure, and these three teams could give him a fresh start.<\/p>\n

Possible Next Teams
\nNew England Patriots<\/p>\n

The New England Patriots are coming off one of the most surprising seasons since the Tom Brady Era. Quarterback Drake Maye<\/a> and head coach Mike Vrabel have shown they\u2019re in a new era despite the team\u2019s Super Bowl loss. This means it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see the Patriots get aggressive right before the season starts. After already signing WR Romeo Doubs<\/a>, the Patriots need a boost in their tight end unit.<\/p>\n

Pairing Pitts with Hunter Henry would be an elite combo for Maye. New England is the perfect place for Pitts to grow into a superstar, and it wouldn\u2019t be shocking to see Vrabel get him.<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs<\/p>\n

Speaking of Super Bowl aspirations, the Kansas City Chiefs are the dark-horse team in this situation. Even though the team extended Veteran tight end Travis Kelce<\/a>, he should be retiring in 2027. While they have Noah Gray, who could emerge as a starter, the team grabbing Pitts would be an elite move for Patrick Mahomes<\/a>. Pitts has the size and athleticism to operate as a receiver in situational moments, and that\u2019s what the Chiefs need, which the team struggled with last season after missing Rashee Rice for the majority of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens<\/p>\n

The Ravens are rebuilding as well, but they\u2019re not far off from another postseason run. The team snuck itself into a wild-card led by John Harbaugh, who was ultimately fired due to inconsistencies. After letting Isaiah Likely hit the market<\/a>, the Ravens might\u2019ve retained Mark Andrews, but it probably won\u2019t stop Jesse Minter from getting Pitts to strengthen the pass-game for Lamar Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite receiving a franchise tag, the Atlanta Falcons are still open for business and could wind up trading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2591,2554,849,4127,5404,224,7,4698,922,6153,114345,726,6,835,10420,3995,500],"class_list":{"0":"post-854546","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-baltimore-ravens-news","13":"tag-bijan-robinson","14":"tag-chiefs-featured","15":"tag-falcons","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-isaiah-likely","18":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","19":"tag-kyle-pitts","20":"tag-lastest-nfl-news","21":"tag-new-england-patriots-news","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-nfl-news","24":"tag-ravens-featured","25":"tag-romeo-doubs","26":"tag-travis-kelce"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116350197698124181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854546","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=854546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}