By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Atlanta Falcons have made a couple of big personnel decisions before the new league year begins on March 11^th.

“The Falcons will release Kirk Cousins before the start of the league year, when his $67.9 million salary would become fully guaranteed under the terms of his reworked contract,” Dan Graziano writes. “Atlanta has to pay Cousins a $10 million roster bonus this year, whether he’s on the team or not, but it does not appear to be interested in bringing back Cousins.”

Atlanta signed Cousins in the 2024 offseason to a four-year, $180 million deal. I’m sure he expected to finish his career in Atlanta.  Shortly after, however, the team drafted Michael Penix Jr. in the first round at No. 8 overall. At that point he never had stability in his position.

Cousins was benched for Penix toward the end of the 2024 season. His play did warrant that move because he was not moving the offense effectively. Then head coach Raheem Morris named Penix the starter heading into 2025 after just three starts, without holding a real quarterback competition during the offseason.

We have to grade the signing of Cousins as an F. Atlanta thought they only needed a quarterback to become a playoff contender, which is why they signed him. He did not lead them to the playoffs and now he’s gone after being there for less than two years.

The Falcons have also placed the franchise tag on tight end Kyle Pitts. General manager Ian Cunningham said it is the “right move” for the organization “right now.”

Per the general manager, the franchise tag is a way to “use the mechanisms provided by the league” — especially considering Cunningham just got to Atlanta, having been hired on Jan. 29 — to allow the team time to fully evaluate what they want for the future of Pitts and the position in Atlanta and how it relates to their roster construction.

“We’re not in the business of letting go really good players,” Cunningham said.

Pitts, who played on his fifth-year option in 2025, is coming off one of his most productive seasons. His yardage total ranked second only to his record-breaking rookie season after being selected No. 4 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. He had 88 catches, 928 yards and 5 touchdowns last season.

He has been an inconsistent player thus far. He disappears in some games and he’s too talented for that to happen. I do want to point out that having a thousand-yard season is not as impressive as it sounds. In seventeen games getting to one thousand yards means a player averages 58.8 yards per game.

Pitts had 1,026 receiving yards, 68 receptions and 1 touchdown as a rookie. He dealt with injuries in 2022 and only played in ten games. He had 28 catches, 356 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2023 he had 667 yards and in 2024 he had 602 yards.

As you can see, there’s a reason to be concerned about signing him to a long-term deal. We will have to see if he will have another big season in 2026.