It was 2021 when the Atlanta Falcons decided to draft tight end Kyle Pitts with the 4th overall pick. It seems like yesterday that Atlanta brought in one of those prospects that all 32 teams would have loved to have. While he was phenomenal at Florida, the start of his career has not always been so great.
He’s only gone over the 1,000 yard mark once in five seasons and hasn’t scored more than 5 touchdowns in a season. Now granted, Pitts hasn’t been in a great offensive situation all the time either. Whether it was from quarterback performance or how the scheme was drawn up.
Coming off this past season, Pitts looked like his rookie self with 928 yards and 5 touchdowns despite Atlanta playing some bad football at times, and also focusing it around on the rushing attack at times.
The Falcons have to make a decision on what to do with Pitts. Do they keep him around for the short-term, or find a way to extend him to keep him in Atlanta in 2026 and beyond?
Falcons are in a tough situation with Kyle Pitts' future
NFL.com analyst Marc Ross listed Pitts as 1 of 11 players who “deserve big-money deals” for having strong 2025 seasons. “Pitts might be risky because of the inconsistency, but his upside is worth the investment” said Ross. Pitts had the chance to take a step forward after a forgetful past three seasons production wise.
While a lot of teams hope to draft, develop, and pay their players, there also has to be the consideration of whether or not it’s a good investment. Just like Ross said, there is too much inconsistency up to this point. Would the Falcons’ new GM really take the risk of investing money into a player that has been inconsistent, and that he didn’t draft? Who knows…anything can happen.
However, the Falcons are better off with trying to find a short-term solution that allows Pitts to prove that he is worth the long-term investment. It’s going to be very interesting to see what route the Falcons take with Pitts because he is a special player, just not at a consistent level.