ESPN Suggests One Last Move for Atlanta Falcons

It might be time for the Atlanta Falcons to move on from a former first-round pick to prepare for teh 2025 season

It might be time to move on from this former top-five pick | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

ESPN’s Aaron Schatz on Thursday wrote an article detailing one final offseason move for each of the 32 teams in the NFL. For the Atlanta Falcons, he suggests they trade away former Pro Bowl tight end Kyle Pitts. 

“Pitts has never matched the heights of his 1,026-yard rookie season, nor has he matched expectations as the No. 4 overall pick,” Schatz wrote. “It's very unlikely that the Falcons extend or re-sign him after the 2025 season, so perhaps the best thing is to get some value for him now and let him see what he can do with a change of scenery.”

Pitts has been in trade rumors all off-season, with Bleacher Report’s Brett Sobleski writing about a hypothetical Pitts trade on Wednesday, June 25. Sobleski’s trade includes a three-team deal where Pitts ends up on the Cincinnati Bengals, Trey Hendrickson on the Indianapolis Colts and DeForest Buckner on the Atlanta Falcons.

Schatz did not specify a specific trade for Pitts, but named three teams that may be interested in the 24-year-old tight-end: the New York Jets, the New York Giants and potentially even the Philadelphia Eagles as they look to move off of a 30-year-old Dallas Goedert. 

The Falcons are certainly in an interesting position. They did not pick up Pitts’ 5th-year option this season, meaning he will be a free agent at the end of the year. However, this could be Pitts’ first season with the same starting quarterback for all 17 games since his rookie season, the year he put up over 1,000 yards. The Falcons have a decision to make: roll the dice and see if Pitts can replicate his rookie season or trade him now and get some value, instead of letting him walk for nothing in the offseason.

“I’ve got a lot of belief in him [Kyle Pitts],”  Head Coach Raheem Morris said earlier this offseason. 

Everything the Falcons have said and done this season points towards Pitts staying on the team, at least for the start of the 2025 season. However, he has been in many trade rumors all offseason.