If the timing of Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts’ contract extension came as a surprise, it’s because we haven’t been paying close enough attention to the hints coach Kevin Stefanski has been dropping for two months now.Stefanski in April: “Kyle’s been great, fun to get to know him.”In May: “A guy that is here working like crazy, takes coaching.”In June: “He’s proven to be a good football player in this league.”When the Falcons placed the franchise tag on Pitts in February, it seemed like the perfect contractual mechanism to give Stefanski and general manager Ian Cunningham a full season to evaluate their tantalizing but inconsistent tight end. Apparently, organized team activities and minicamp were enough time.Has the Falcons' QB competition even begun?Josh KendallOn Tuesday, Atlanta made a long(ish)-term commitment to Pitts with a three-year contract extension worth up to $54 million, according to his agency, Athletes First. The structure of the contract, which will determine the Falcons’ salary-cap hit and how many years they will be financially committed to him, is unknown. ESPN and NFL Network reported that Pitts will receive $36 million in guaranteed money.The $18 million per year price tag would make Pitts the third-highest-paid tight end in the NFL behind San Francisco’s George Kittle ($19.1 million) and Arizona’s Trey McBride ($19 million).Given that the franchise tag would have cost Atlanta $15 million against the salary cap, this new deal won’t adversely affect the books this year and will likely help by shifting more of the cap hit to future years. With the extension starting this year, it also likely adds only one year of actual commitment to Pitts, essentially extending a one-year tryout to two years.In a video clip posted by the NFL that appeared to have been filmed at one of Pitts’ favorite offseason locations, a golf course, the 25-year-old said, “Woo, God is good.”The saltier segment of Atlanta’s fans could almost be heard shouting back, “Yeah, you should be thankful for this gift!” The Pitts news set off a lively day of sports talk radio coverage in the city, which has been polarized about Pitts essentially since he was selected fourth overall in 2021. It was and remains the highest a tight end has ever been picked in draft history, immediately handing Pitts the heavy weight of expectations.He has intermittently lived up to those expectations. He had 1,026 receiving yards in his first season, the second most ever by a rookie tight end at the time. He had a four-game stretch in 2024 with 314 yards and two touchdowns. He had a four-game stretch in 2025 with 395 yards and four touchdowns.He has also occasionally gone missing, and not just during the seven games he sat out in 2022 after a meniscus tear. Pitts has failed to reach 30 receiving yards in 30 of his 78 career games. For context, Kittle has missed 30 yards in 34 of his 124 career games.That now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t relationship with the stat sheet has led naysayers to question his focus and competitiveness. That’s a mistake, said tight ends coach Kevin Koger.“Kyle cares a lot. People don’t realize how much the game means to him,” Koger said. “He does have a high standard for himself, separate of what people say outside the building. You want guys who have a high care factor, and he’s right at the top of that list. Sometimes I have to talk him down, but those are the guys you want to coach.”Stefanski, a noted stickler for even the smallest details, has yet to receive any complaints.“Obviously, the physical skill set is obvious when Kyle’s on the field, with how big he is and how he moves, but I’ve been impressed with a couple new things we’re asking him to do,” he said. “As your players continue on in their careers, you want to find out more: What else is in there? And what else can we do? And what can we help you with? I think Kyle’s been outstanding in that regard of trying to continue to get better in so many areas.”Pitts will turn 26 this October. He’s nearly a full year younger than McBride despite being in the league a year longer. He already has 1,349 more receiving yards than Kittle had when he turned 26. The Falcons, though, are tired of talking about the age issue.“Nobody cares about age, especially if you’re going into Year 6,” Koger said. “He is mature in terms of years in the league. The age part is kind of irrelevant.”Atlanta, it seems, is happy to let the “Unicorn” die. That was the nickname that never stuck to Pitts during the NFL Draft evaluation period, when his too-good-to-be-true traits (6 foot 6 with a 4.44, 40-yard dash) led the Falcons — and, to be fair, a lot of other people — to believe he was going to be transformational at the position.He has not been. He has been good at times, great at others and frustratingly absent at others.And he seems aware of all this.Last season, Pitts said, he “had a talk with God and myself, looking in a mirror and saying, ‘You have the opportunity to do something. Let’s do it.’”The new regime in Atlanta is paying him because they believe he can.“He’s trying to be the best version of himself, be the most complete player at his position,” Stefanski said. “Obviously, he’s had some great, great, great moments in his young career, and we’re trying to build off of those. Also, like any player, there’s always some things you can work on.”Stefanski, who has described himself as an “aficionado” of the tight end position, doesn’t plan to make any dramatic changes to Pitts’ role in the offense, which would mean he’ll still be an outside receiving threat as well as a traditional tight end. Pitts was second among NFL tight ends in outside targets (76) and seventh in slot targets (42) last season, according to TruMedia.“Kyle’s a good football player. I think there’s all sorts of different jobs he can do: inline tight end, line up in the backfield, line up outside,” Stefanski said. “It comes back to that versatility piece, and I think you’ve seen that from Kyle in his career.“It’s not putting Kyle in positions that he hasn’t been in already, but it’s quarter-turn adjusting a few of them and maybe utilizing a few different route techniques.”Stefanski and Pitts have bonded over their Philadelphia roots and love of golf.“I’ve enjoyed being around him,” Stefanski said. “I know you guys have seen the same thing I’ve seen on the field and on film and the type of player he is, but just getting to know the person has been pretty special.”