The Atlanta Falcons plan to place the franchise tag on tight end Kyle Pitts Sr., a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
The deadline for teams to use the franchise or transition tag is next Tuesday with free agency beginning the week after.
Pitts, 25, finished second among tight ends in receptions (88) and receiving yards (928) last season, trailing behind only Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals. Pitts added a career-high five touchdown catches. He was voted as AP second-team All-Pro.
It marked a major rebound year, including one of the best games ever for a tight end. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in December, Pitts had 11 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the first tight end to reach at least 150 yards with three touchdowns in a game since Shannon Sharpe in 1996.
Pitts struggled with injuries and inconsistency from 2022 to 2024 after a record-breaking rookie season in 2021. Pitts had 1,026 yards on 68 catches in his first year. He was the first tight end to reach 1,000 yards as a rookie since Mike Ditka in 1961 and the first tight end to make the Pro Bowl since Jeremy Shockey in 2002.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Pitts tore his MCL in 2022 and did not eclipse 700 yards in 2023 or 2024. He also dealt with having a lot of turnover at the quarterback position, with six different signal-callers (Matt Ryan, Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr.) throwing to him in five seasons:
The Falcons drafted Pitts at No. 4 overall out of Florida in the 2021 draft, believing in his combination of speed, size and ability to make plays in space.
ESPN’s Marc Raimondi contributed to this report.