Time is of the essence in the NFL, especially when it comes to contract negotiations. The longer a team waits to sign a star player to a long-term extension, the higher the price tag will get on said extension. And that's a lesson the Atlanta Falcons have become pretty well-versed in this offseason.
The Falcons have become pros at waiting until the last possible minute to sign their players to a new deal. They did so with Drake London, and they did the same thing with Kyle Pitts. After franchise tagging him earlier this offseason, they just signed Pitts to a three-year, $54 million extension.
Even though the Falcons kicked the can down the road a bit too long, they got a deal done just in the nick of time. Because of the tag, they only had until July 15 to extend him, and if they were unable to get a deal done, they wouldn't have been able to re-visit negotiations until after the regular season.
The Falcons signed Kyle Pitts to an extension at the last possible moment
With London already extended and Bijan seemingly next in line for a payday, Pitts' future in Atlanta was starting to come into question. Did they really want to invest top-of-market money to three different players on offense? Is he consistent enough to even deserve the benefit of the doubt? We just found so many answers, and he'll only make $3 million more than he would've on the tag.
Trading him at the deadline didn't feel feasible, so the Dirty Birds had roughly three weeks to put pen to paper. He had a career year last season, so committing to one season of this money to see if lightning will strike twice is one thing, but they are making it their mission to keep this core on offense.
The 25-year-old is set to be the NFL's third-highest paid tight end in 2026 at $18 million a year. Only George Kittle and Trey McBride will make more on average this year, and he's now under contract through 2029. Talk about a well-timed statement from a new regime.
The TE-friendly Kevin Stefanski was never going to entertain trade offers on Pitts. The only other option they had was to allow him to play out the season on the tag and hit free agency, but they got ahead of the 8-ball with a new contract.
The former top-five pick still has the talent to be one of the best TEs in in the NFL, and the Falcons didn't have long to reveal their long-term faith in Kyle Pitts. Since they were at a fork in the road, choosing the direction with a long-term deal was a telling message from Ian Cunningham.
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