Source: Falcons plan to place franchise tag on TE Kyle Pitts

The Atlanta Falcons plan to place the franchise tag on tight finish Kyle Pitts Sr.., a supply informed ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

The deadline for groups to use the franchise or transition tag is subsequent Tuesday with free company starting the week after.

Pitts, 25, completed second amongst tight ends in receptions (88) and receiving yards (928) final season, trailing behind solely Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals. Pitts added a career-high 5 landing catches. He was voted as AP second-team All-Pro.

It marked a serious rebound 12 months, together with top-of-the-line video games ever for a good finish. Against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in December, Pitts had 11 catches for 166 yards and three touchdowns, turning into the primary tight finish to attain a minimum of 150 yards with three touchdowns in a sport since Shannon Sharpe in 1996.

Pitts struggled with accidents 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 12 months. He was the primary tight finish to attain 1,000 yards as a rookie since Mike Ditka in 1961 and the primary tight finish to make the Pro Bowl since Jeremy Shockey in 2002.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Pitts tore his MCL in 2022 and didn’t eclipse 700 yards in 2023 or 2024. He additionally handled having numerous turnover on the quarterback place, with six totally different signal-callers (Matt Ryan, Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr..) throwing to him in 5 seasons:

The Falcons drafted Pitts at No. 4 general out of Florida within the 2021 draft, believing in his mixture of velocity, dimension and skill to make performs in area.

ESPN’s Marc Raimondi contributed to this report.