This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Ever since he was drafted fourth overall out of the University of Florida by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2021 NFL Draft, fans (and fantasy owners) have eagerly been waiting for Kyle Pitts to have a breakout season.
Entering his fourth year as a pro, those folks are still waiting, like patience on a monument.
Pitts has established himself as a reliable pass-catching tight end.
But he hasn’t quite become the explosive weapon that many projected him to be after he scored 12 touchdowns in his senior campaign for the Gators, which was third-best amongst all FBS receivers in the 2020 season. Pitts hasn’t been able to find the end zone nearly as often as a pro. He scored just three touchdowns last season and has a total of six in 44 career NFL games.
Will this be the season where fortunes change for the 6-foot-6, 23-year-old tight end?
There are reasons to be optimistic.
First and foremost, Pitts has a new quarterback throwing to him this year.
The Falcons signed veteran Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract in March, and then they spent their eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft on Washington Huskies’ product Michael Penix Jr. Meanwhile, former Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder, Atlanta’s starter for the majority of the 2023 season, was traded to the Arizona Cardinals for wideout Rondale Moore.
Ridder simply didn’t have a whole lot of luck getting the ball to Pitts in the right places at the right time. While Pitts was targeted 90 times last season—tied for ninth-most among tight ends—only 57 of those throws to him were deemed catchable by the advanced analytics site FantasyPros. Pitts only dropped four of those, giving him 53 catches this season. No tight end in the NFL who was targeted at least 80 times last season was presented with fewer catchable passes than Pitts.
While Cousins didn’t play all of last season, he favored tight ends often in the Minnesota offense. T.J. Hockenson caught 95 passes last year, which led the Vikings and was second-most among all tight ends in the league. In the 2022 season, Cousins targeted Hockenson 86 times in 10 games after the Vikings acquired him in a midseason trade with the Detroit Lions.
Kirk Cousins source: Getty Images Cousins, a 35-year-old veteran, also brings the leadership to ask more out of Pitts.
“What I’m encouraging him with is to use that length as much as he can,” Cousins said. “Anytime he lets the ball into his body, I tell him, ‘That wasn’t good enough. You should never let it come into your body. You’re too good to let it come into your body.’”
For Penix, Washington tight end Jack Westover was third in catches for the Huskies as they made it all the way to the College Football Playoff title game last season, hauling in 46 passes for four scores. No matter who the Falcons’ quarterback is this season, they seem to have a knack for getting the ball to their tight end.
The other reason to feel good about Pitts heading into this season is that he’s playing in a new offensive scheme. The Falcons fired former head coach Arthur Smith and replaced him with Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. When he got the Atlanta job, Morris brought Zac Robinson—the Rams’ pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach the last two seasons—with him to run the offense.
Now, Robinson’s x’s and o’s didn’t make Rams tight end Tyler Higbee a superstar, but a case can be made that Higbee has been more productive than Pitts over the past three seasons. In that time, Higbee has 180 catches for 10 touchdowns, while Pitts has 149 catches for six scores.
Robinson’s scheme should be an upgrade for Pitts, where he’ll play tight end and some wide receiver as well.
“He’s learning basically two different positions,” Robinson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So, he’s got a lot on his plate. He’s handled it really well. I’m just excited to see him continue to get more comfortable in the system… We’ll move him around the formation. We’ll use him as a blocker. We’ll use him as a receiver. We’ll use him all across the board.”
If the combination of a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a new quarterback doesn’t create an environment where Pitts can thrive, perhaps he won’t become the Pro Bowler that many thought he could become. This season could be a crucial and pivotal one for his development.
