{"id":860024,"date":"2026-04-08T01:41:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/860024\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T01:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T01:41:44","slug":"falcons-confirm-aggressive-2026-draft-strategy-following-kyle-pitts-franchise-tag-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/860024\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons confirm aggressive 2026 Draft strategy following Kyle Pitts’ franchise tag signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Falcons<\/a> are in the midst of a massive organizational reset. On Tuesday, star tight end Kyle Pitts officially signed his $15.045 million franchise tender, and the front office has confirmed it intends to be aggressive in the upcoming NFL Draft<\/a> to further bolster the roster.<\/p>\n

Changes are coming rapidly to Atlanta. The recent signing of Tua Tagovailoa has set the stage for a high-stakes quarterback competition<\/a>, and the front office appears determined to build a versatile, high-powered offense around its new signal-caller.<\/p>\n

By signing his franchise tender, Pitts becomes one of the league\u2019s top earners at his position for the 2026 season\u2014surpassing the annual averages of players like Isaiah Likely and Travis Kelce<\/a>. With Pitts under contract, General Manager Ian Cunningham is now pivoting his focus to the NFL Draft as the primary vehicle for long-term roster improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s one of those things where we have to go into this thinking we only have five picks. That\u2019s worst case,\u201d Cunningham said, via the team\u2019s website. \u201cIf we come out of it with just five picks, we come out of it with just five picks. We are already looking at different ways to potentially manufacture some more. But if it doesn\u2019t work out, it doesn\u2019t work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Falcons\u2019 quarterback dilemma<\/p>\n

Since the departure of Matt Ryan, the Falcons have struggled to find a long-term solution under center. While the team has made several attempts to secure a \u201cfranchise\u201d successor, those efforts have yet to yield a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n

Following the exit of Kirk Cousins earlier this offseason, many expected 2024 first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. to serve as the undisputed QB1. However, the arrival of Tua Tagovailoa<\/a>\u2014who joined Atlanta on a one-year, $1.3 million \u201cprove-it\u201d deal after being released by the Dolphins\u2014has complicated the depth chart.<\/p>\n

As of today, Tagovailoa is the projected Week 1 starter for head coach Kevin Stefanski, as Penix Jr. continues to rehab a partially torn left ACL sustained late last season. While the team is exploring upgrades at several positions, the battle for the starting quarterback role remains the most intriguing storyline heading into the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons are in the midst of a massive organizational reset. On Tuesday, star tight end Kyle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,6,15,115210],"class_list":{"0":"post-860024","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-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-draft","15":"tag-nomsn"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116366548285917325","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860024","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=860024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}