FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — When agent David Mulugheta pitches client Kyle Pitts to the Atlanta Falcons (and maybe a number of other teams) this offseason, this fact will be on the first page of his presentation: Travis Kelce was 24 years, 338 days old when he made his first NFL catch. Pitts is 25 years, 79 days old and already has 276 catches for 3,505 yards.
“I’m on the younger side,” Pitts said, “so there’s a lot of growing to do.”
How much growing? How consistent will it be? And where has it been the last three years? These will all be questions around the league if Pitts reaches free agency in March. They are the questions Falcons fans have been asking for years now — and the reason the organization’s upcoming decision about the tight end is so fraught.
Pitts, the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, is entering the final two games of his rookie contract with the Falcons, who will have to place the franchise tag on him, sign him to a second contract or watch him and all his potential play somewhere else next year.
“I think he’s worth a pretty significant payday, but I am always a little leery of guys who take the full length of their contract to figure it out,” said Logan Paulsen, a former NFL tight end who now coaches the position privately and appears as an analyst on Washington Commanders-affiliated broadcasts. “As long as teams understand what they are getting with him, I think they can make it work.”
Pitts would “love” to stay in Atlanta, he said, but he insists he’s not thinking about his contract situation.
“I don’t think about the money. I don’t think about contracts,” he said. “I think about being here in the moment with my teammates and my brothers because I see these guys every day. Whatever happens in the future, happens.”
The physical tools that convinced the Falcons to draft Pitts higher than any tight end in history are all still there. He’s still 6 feet 6. He still has 33 1/2-inch arms and 10 5/8-inch hands custom designed to catch passes. And he’s still very fast, even if a 2022 knee injury has added a few tenths to the 4.44-second 40 time he ran at his University of Florida pro day.
All of that had become easy to forget until this last month. In his last four games, Pitts has 31 catches for 395 yards. It’s not just the best four-game stretch of his career but also the best of any Atlanta tight end ever. In Week 15 alone, he had a career-high 11 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns against Tampa Bay.
“You are not looking at stats, you’re just focusing on pushing the ball down the field and scoring,” Pitts said of that breakout game. “When they tell you the stats at the end of the game, it’s like, ‘Oh, that did happen.’ It’s like, ‘Damn, that was a pretty good one.’”
It was the kind of game Falcons coaches and executives were envisioning when they took Pitts over the likes of Ja’Marr Chase, Penei Sewell, Patrick Surtain II and Micah Parsons in the team’s first draft under general manager Terry Fontenot and former head coach Arthur Smith.
“We have seen glimpses of it throughout the season, but there are always times you want more,” current coach Raheem Morris said. “(Against the Buccaneers), he left us not wanting more. He left us really inspired.”
And he left the Falcons with a decision to make. If they place the franchise tag on Pitts, it would pay him around $15.8 million next year, making him either the fourth- or fifth-highest-paid tight end in the league behind the 49ers’ George Kittle ($19.1 million), the Cardinals’ Trey McBride ($19 million), Kelce, if he keeps playing ($17.1 million), and the Vikings’ T.J. Hockenson ($16.5 million). Pitts is making $10.8 million this year on his fifth-year option.
Pitts’ first five years of production still lag behind the most productive tight ends of the last 25 years. Kelce had 307 catches for 3,900 yards in his first five seasons. Kittle had 335 for 4,489. Mark Andrews of the Ravens had 336 for 4,313.
So, should the Falcons count on second-contract development from Pitts? The position can take time to learn at the professional level because of the increased blocking demands and the variety of duties required, Paulsen said.
“There is a pretty good track record of guys who are just big athletes figuring it out,” Paulsen said.
Pitts’ coaches have been uniformly complimentary of his development this year.
“We view so many of these guys when they come in like they’ve got to be ready-made, like they’ve got to be playing at Year 1 to the level of where they’re drafted,” offensive coordinator Zac Robinson said. “Obviously, Kyle had a great first season, but all these guys are developing. They’re getting better. Kyle’s a very young player. He was drafted so young, and he continues to mature with his process off the field. It’s been cool to see him put a lot of things together this season.”
Another week, another @kylepitts__ TD 🔥
FOX | NFL+ pic.twitter.com/H74ZqTS1Db
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) December 21, 2025
Pitts’ touchdown catch against Arizona last week gave him five for the season and 15 for his career. (He had one in his first year, two in his second, three in his third, four in his fourth and now five in his fifth.) He leads the Falcons with 80 receptions for 854 yards.
“Can’t say enough good things about KP and his growth and development as a player, the details that are showing up,” Robinson said. “He’s had a great season. Looking for him to gain a ton of confidence off of that and finish the season off really strong.”
Pitts has specifically improved as a blocker and route runner against zone defenses this season. Still, should Atlanta be skeptical about the future because of his disappointing 2023 and 2024 seasons, when he failed to top 700 receiving yards? He’s still searching for his first 1,000-yard season since his rookie year.
Paulsen has seen Pitts’ improved blocking on film.
“The biggest difference from two years ago to this year is he’s playing a lot better in the run game,” Paulsen said. “When you’re on the field more, it lets you get in the flow of the game more, and you can make more plays.”
Pitts’ improved receiving production is a result of the Falcons coaching staff calling more routes for him that fit his strengths and protect his weaknesses — specifically routes that don’t call for hard, 90-degree breaks and technical nuance.
“He can run straight fast,” Paulsen said. “He’s a horse, and you just want to let him run to grass. He’s a big, strong, physical dude, but I do think there are some limitations. If you pay him to be your Ja’Marr Chase, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you have a specific role for him, I think it can work out.”