The Atlanta Falcons have already made some important moves this offseason. Atlanta hired Kevin Stefanski at head coach to replace Raheem Morris back in January. They paired Stefanski with new president of football Matt Ryan and general manager Ian Cunningham. That new regime just made their first important roster move of the 2026 offseason.
The Falcons are planning to franchise tag tight end Kyle Pitts. That should keep the superstar tight end in Atlanta on a one-year contract worth more than $15 million.
There was no guarantee that Pitts would stay in Atlanta this offseason.
Pitts has underwhelmed as a former fourth overall pick. He did manage 68 receptions for 1,026 receiving yards during his rookie season. However, Pitts suffered an MCL injury the next year that cut his sophomore season short.
It was all downhill from there until the 2025 season. Pitts broke out in 2025, hauling in a career-high 88 receptions for 928 yards and five touchdowns.
Now Pitts could be a part of the team's future after all.
The Falcons reportedly want to keep Pitts around on a long-term contract instead of the franchise tag. Both sides would need to strike a deal on an extension before July to avoid needing the franchise tag for the 2026 season.
Now the question becomes: what could a potential long-term contract between Pitts and the Falcons look like?
Below we will explore the perfect contract the Falcons should offer Pitts after franchise tagging him on Monday.
How much is Kyle Pitts worth in 2026?
Pitts is a difficult player to place a value on.
The veteran tight end is only a tight end in name. In fact, he looks and plays more like a wide receiver than anything else. That alone makes it difficult to determine where he will place his own value during contract negotiations.
Perhaps the best place to start is comparing Pitts to other players to establish some sort of baseline Fortunately, the folks over at Spotrac are already on top of that.
Spotrac gives Pitts a projected market value of roughly $10.8 million per season on a new contract. They compared Pitts to other comparable tight ends who have received contract extensions.
Dalton Schultz and Jonnu Smith both got $12 million per season on their most recent contracts. There's also Jake Ferguson, who received a four-year, $50 million extension during the summer of 2025.
Ultimately, Spotrac's “base calculated value” suggests that Atlanta should offer Pitts a six-year contract worth $64.32 million at just under $10.8 million per season.
I think that is a pretty fair estimation of Pitts' value. But I have a slightly different idea for what a potential contract extension could look like.
Why the Falcons should offer Pitts $55 million contract this offseason
NFL players do not often seek longer than four years. By agreeing to a six-year contract, Pitts would lose the ability to head back to free agency one more time during his prime years for another payday.
That is important because the salary cap is always increasing. If a player locks in their value for the next six years, sooner or later they will be underpaid. Sometimes severely underpaid.
However, I can understand why Pitts might want some assurances that he could remain a Falcon for life. So perhaps a long-term contract does make sense in this case.
Personally, I think the Falcons should offer Pitts a five-year contract worth $55 million. Such a contract would keep Pitts in Atlanta through the 2030 season at $11 million of average annual value.
Atlanta only has $26.46 million in cap space in 2026, which could limit how big Pitts' contract value is in year one. But with a five-year contract, the Falcons can structure that deal in clever ways to limit Pitts' cap hit in 2026.
I could see both sides being quite happy with this long-term contract.
