Falcons reportedly reach 3-year, $54 million extension with TE Kyle Pitts after using franchise tag
The Atlanta Falcons have finally locked Kyle Pitts down for the forseeable future.
The Falcons reached a three-year, $54 million contract extension with their tight end on Tuesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The deal includes $36 million fully guaranteed, and is the largest three-year contract for a tight end in NFL history.
As a result, Pitts will not play on the franchise tag this season after all. The Falcons placed the tag on Pitts in February while continuing negotiations for a new contract. He would have made a little more than $15 million this season on the tag. He played last season on the $10.9 million fifth-year team option of his initial rookie deal.
Now with the new deal in place, Pitts will earn $18 million per year over the next three seasons. That will make him the third-highest-paid tight end in the league. San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle and Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride each make $19 million per season.
The extension with Pitts is now the second significant one that the Falcons have reached in recent weeks. The team inked a four-year, $141 million extension with star wide receiver Drake London earlier this month. He's now the third-highest-paid receiver in the league.
Pitts recorded 68 catches for 1,026 yards and a touchdown during his rookie season after the Falcons selected him with the No. 4 overall pick out of Florida. He's yet to surpass the 1,000-yard mark again, though he bounced back significantly last season while racking up 928 yards and five touchdowns on 88 catches. Only McBride racked up more receiving yards among tight ends in the league. Pitts pulled that off while quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. and Kirk Cousins largely struggled to run the offense in Atlanta, too.
The team went just 8-9 and missed the playoffs for an eighth straight season. They've not had a winning record since 2017, and now hold the second-longest postseason drought in the league. The team has since hired Kevin Stefanski to replace Raheem Morris as their new head coach. The Falcons also brought in former longtime quarterback Matt Ryan as their president of football and Ian Cunningham as their new general manager.
While the Falcons are going through a revamp, and still have some questions to answer offensively before the start of the new season, the team now has the tight end position secured for the next several years.