The Falcoholic
Several Atlanta Falcons players have a chance to finish the 2025 season strong, which will carry ramifications fo both the team and those individual players entering the 2026 offseason. That creates a lot of intrigue for this Week 16 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals. Thus, I’m tasked with naming five, and only five, Falcons who are the most intriguing for Sunday’s action.
First up is Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, who has made a name for himself beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during his short stint as the Falcons’ starter the past two seasons. His numbers versus the Bucs are impressive, but range from ordinary to underwhelming against most of the remaining competition he’s seen as a Falcon.
Cousins still wants to be a full-time starter in the NFL in 2026, and that likely won’t come in Atlanta, given the presence of Michael Penix, even if the latter won’t be available for Week 1 next season. So Cousins has an opportunity to audition for other NFL teams and really needs to raise his profile by impressing against defenses that Todd Bowles doesn’t coordinate. He’ll get another chance this weekend in Arizona.
Like Cousins, Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts is also coming off a monster game against the Bucs under the bright lights. With another prolific tight end in Arizona’s Trey McBride also taking the field on Sunday, Pitts has another opportunity to increase his profile. McBride is one of the NFL’s highest-paid tight ends, averaging $19 million per year on a deal he signed earlier this year. Should Pitts prove to be the more productive tight end on the field in this battle, it could do wonders for his price tag as an impending free agent.
However, the biggest challenge to Pitts’ production won’t be coming from the Cardinals’ sideline, but his own. Wide receiver Drake London is expected back in the lineup, and the Pitts’ production with and without him in the lineup is stark. In the 9 games they’ve played together, Pitts averages four catches for 42 yards on six targets. Meanwhile, with London out of the lineup for five games, Pitts averages seven catches for 84 yards on nine targets. Pitts has also generated eight of his 12 explosive plays of 20-plus yards without London on the field.
While both players can clearly coexist in the offense, Pitts consistently gets the shorter end of the stick in terms of being a featured weapon. Should that continue as both players close out the season, that has to factor into the Falcons’ calculus if they are going to make him one of the NFL’s highest-paid tight ends after the season.
In contrast to Pitts, Falcons right guard Chris Lindstrom’s financial future is secure since he is wrapping up the third year of a five-year contract extension he signed back in 2023. However, this Cardinals matchup is going to be an important one for him since he’ll be squaring off with a...
