In seasons circling the drains, big moments can be overlooked. When you’re consistently excellent, like Julio Jones and Matt Ryan used to be and Bijan Robinson is today, it takes something truly eyebrow-raising to merit special mention. When you dominate in primetime and you do so at a position where such dominance is rare, however, you’ll get those flowers.
And Kyle Pitts has justifiably gotten recognition for the absurd game he had against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Having Zac Robinson draw up plays
that gave him a shot downfield helped, as did a super sharp game from Kirk Cousins, who delivered on-target throws throughout. All that said, Pitts had to get open, Pitts had to reel in catches in traffic, and Pitts had to make things happen after the catch, and he did. For one night, he looked exactly like the player the Falcons coveted back in the 2021 NFL Draft, when they took him fourth overall.
The numbers are nuts and historic. His 166 yards were the most in Falcons franchise history for a tight end—breaking his own record of 163 from 2021—and a top 40 number all-time among tight ends in NFL history. His three touchdowns were easily a personal record and tied Alge Crumpler for the Falcons single game record at the position. His 11th receptions were the third-highest single game total for a Falcons tight end, behind Tony Gonzalez twice. He also did things that few tight ends—few players!—in NFL history have ever done, like:
Or this:
Simply put, it was a historically great performance from a player who moved and produced like the dominant tight end we’ve all wanted to see all this time. Quietly, and with a small handful of very visible errors obscuring the progress, Pitts has put together the kind of season his talent has suggested was possible after that impressive rookie season. He’s second among tight ends in receiving yards behind Arizona’s Trey McBride, has the highest catch rate of his NFL career thus far by nearly 12 full percentage points, and already blew past his career-best reception total in 2021. All of that is proving that he’s a quality weapon in his Falcons offense, and his blocking has certainly improved, even if it’ll never be his strong suit.
All that is great, but it also means a robust market for his services is probably heating up, especially after last Thursday night. Pitts is a 2026 free agent, after all, and will be hitting the open market before he turns 26 years old with over 3,500 receiving yards to his name and the kind of game that will convince teams he can be their dominant tight end. The Falcons will probably lose any legitimate bidding war for his services—they have other holes, a quarterback room to figure out, a big dead money charge looming for Kirk Cousins, and not a lot of space to begin with—and may need to hit him with their rarely-used franchise tag if they’d like to keep him around. Much will probably depend on whether Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot are still in Atlanta, but ideally they would not lose Pitts fresh off a year that’s much closer to their vision for him than the two that came before. The reality, though, is that keeping Pitts and lining up to pay both Drake London and Bijan Robinson probably isn’t going to happen; Pitts still seems like the likeliest man to go.
All of this is to say you may want to enjoy these final three games with Pitts in Atlanta, because the Falcons cap situation and the number of teams looking for quality pass-catching tight ends may conspire to have him playing elsewhere in 2026. If the Falcons do want to keep him, expect them to use the franchise tag or seriously pony up.
