Atlanta

Falcons

The 13-year veteran, who will be 37-years-old at the start of the 2025 season, did not attend the Falcons voluntary OTAs in May. Cousins, who is scheduled to make $40 million in the upcoming season, is set to be Michael Penix’s backup. The Falcons remain open to trading Cousins for the right price, but most media reports have them asking for quite a bit for the quarterback without being open to retaining much of his salary.

The 13-year veteran quarterback did not attend the Falcons voluntary OTAs in May, but did work out with the team in April. The team has repeatedly committed to Michael Penix as the Week 1 starter, even suggesting they could keep Cousins — scheduled to make $40 million in 2025 — as Penix’s backup. Cousins, who will be 37 at the start of the 2025 season, threw for 3508-18-16 in 14 games last season and had an abysmal five-game stretch in which he threw just one touchdown to nine interceptions, which ultimately led to his benching. The Falcons remain open to trading Cousins for the right price, but most media reports have them asking for quite a bit for the quarterback without retaining salary. The Steelers officially signing Aaron Rodgers takes away the last obvious suitor. Cousins may be waiting for a starting quarterback injury in training camp to get his foot in the door somewhere.

Per Schefter, multiple teams have reached out about trading for Pitts. While the Falcons aren’t actively looking to move him, they aren’t turning away the calls either. This is not the vibe a team puts out if they want to keep the player in question. As Schefter notes, the issue with a trade isn’t Atlanta’s love of Pitts, it’s his contract. Pitts is on the final year of his rookie deal and is set to make just shy of $11 million, all of which would be inherited by the team trading for him. The price in dollars and draft capital may be too high for any team to make an offer worth Atlanta’s time. For now, Pitts remains out of practice while dealing with a strained foot muscle. Fantasy managers can pass on Pitts as even a TE2 until he returns to practice.

He has notably been absent from OTAs. Raheem Morris said yesterday that the team was being “extremely cautious” with Pitts, although he would not reveal the nature of the injury because the Falcons treat information about injuries as sacrosanct. It is likely we won’t see Pitts back at practice until training camp, if then, based on this update.

According to Schultz, “nothing is imminent,” and the Falcons would prefer to keep the former No. 4 overall pick. He also adds that “it would take at least a Day 2 pick to even spark serious talks.” A hyper-athletic tight end who burst on the scene as a rookie when he caught 68 passes for 1,026 yards and one touchdown, Pitts has struggled to replicate his rookie-year success. While injuries can be partly blamed for his struggles, Pitts’ effort has also been called into question at times by both the front office and coaching staff. Entering the final year of his rookie deal, any team that trades for Pitts would have to decide whether they want to extend him or force him to play out the year and earn a new deal next offseason. We don’t know which teams have called about Pitts, but this could be something to monitor in the coming weeks.

Neuzil’s contract includes $6.25 million guaranteed. The 27-year-old has spent the past three seasons with the Falcons as a former undrafted free agent. After starting eight games for Atlanta’s offensive line last season, Neuzil entered restricted free agency this offseason. He now returns to the Falcons with a two-year contract to enter the season as the team’s starting center.

Pitts’ absence at Falcons OTAs this week was not contract related as he enters the final year of his rookie deal with Atlanta. It’s unclear how long Pitts might remain out with the foot injury. The team could be taking precautions with their starting tight end in the early stages of the offseason schedule. Falcons coaches over the past few months have hinted that they expect much more from Pitts in 2025. Pitts in 2024 was 22nd in tight end receptions and 13th in tight end receiving yards. Since the start of the 2023 season, Pitts ranks 116th among all pass catchers in EPA per target.

It wouldn’t be overly surprising if Pitts was rankled at heading into the fifth-year option of his rookie deal without an extension, but this is the first we’ve heard of him missing any time, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Entering his age-25 season, Pitts is a low-end TE1 at best for fantasy purposes. Given how little time Michael Penix Jr. got with the starters last year, it would probably have helped Pitts’ cause to be working with the young quarterback as much as possible this offseason.

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris hardly seemed surprise by Cousins’ no-show, as the team tries to find a way to sever ties with Cousins, 36, following his disastrous 2024 season. The team has repeatedly committed to Michael Penix as the Week 1 starter, even suggesting they could keep Cousins — scheduled to make $40 million in 2025 — as Penix’s backup. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowlers reported last week that Cousins is “on the Steelers’ radar” if Pittsburgh can’t come to terms with Aaron Rodgers as their 2025 starter. That could be the only remaining path for Cousins if he’s intent on getting out of Atlanta this summer.