Atlanta Falcons: Kyle Pitts makes a big play on first NFL touch
Atlanta Falcons rookie Kyle Pitts should be expected to do big things in his rookie NFL season. His first NFL touch went for a huge gain.
The Atlanta Falcons hired Terry Fontenot as their general manager in 2021 along with a brand-new head coach in Arthur Smith, and together, that brain trust decided not to invest in the future at the quarterback position in the 2021 NFL Draft. Despite having an opportunity to take Georgia native Justin Fields, the Falcons opted to use the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, one of the most freakish offensive weapons to come along in some time.
Pitts has a ridiculous wingspan, tremendous catch radius, and big-time game speed. He’s a mismatch against pretty much any type of defender and he put that on display with his first NFL reception.
Even though it’s only preseason, it won’t be for much longer and this kind of stuff from Pitts is going to translate immediately.
https://twitter.com/AtlantaFalcons/status/1432136119366324225
Drafted higher than any tight end in NFL history, the pressure is going to be on Pitts to become rather quickly what guys like Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and Darren Waller have become.
Although it’s difficult to say offenses are “positionless” in the NFL, the tight end position is certainly evolving and players are so much more than just in-line players or big wide receivers anymore.
Pitts will move all over the formation and he proved at Florida that he is more than capable of doing exactly that. There were a number of creative ways he was involved in the Gators’ offensive gameplan, including lining up in the backfield, split out wide, in the slot, as an h-back, and in the traditional in-line position.
No matter where Florida lined Pitts up, he was able to create offense and Kyle Trask really owes Pitts an annual steak dinner for helping him get drafted at all, much less on day two of the NFL Draft.
Pitts is joining an offense led by Arthur Smith, and Jonnu Smith just got a big-money free agent deal with the New England Patriots after some really productive years under Smith in Tennessee. Smith had been a tight ends coach since 2013 and helped tremendously with Smith’s development but also his actual involvement in the offense when he became a coordinator in 2019.
Pitts will have a massive impact in his first year with the Atlanta Falcons especially after the team made the unpopular decision to trade away wide receiver Julio Jones to Smith’s former team in Tennessee.
With Jones gone, Calvin Ridley will almost undoubtedly lead the team in targets. Behind him? It’s reasonable to expect Pitts to absolutely eat.