Why Isn't Kyle Pitts Good?

What's gone wrong for one of the NFL's most promising tight ends? Everything.

Be warned, tears splashed across my keyboard while writing this piece.

Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts is easily one of my favorite players to come out of college. His jaw-dropping tape at Florida, combined with my love for the tight end position, made him an instant favorite.

Pitts’ 6’6” frame and his ungodly 4.44 40-yard dash easily made him one of the best athletes ever to grace the league at his position. It only felt right that he was a top-five pick and had the potential to transform the Falcons' receiver corps as a matchup nightmare for defenses.

As a rookie, that vision was realized to extent. He cleared the 1,000-yard barrier and set the rookie record (at the time — Brock Bowers would later surpass Pitts’ numbers) for most receiving yards in a season by a tight end.

Despite that success yardage-wise, the lack of touchdowns — he only had one after a whopping 12 in his final college season — felt like a disappointment. This left plenty of room for Pitts to improve going into year two.

Unfortunately, he suffered a significant knee injury that held him out of the team’s final seven games. Pitts ended up having his worst year as a pro, recording just a hair more than 350 yards.

It was easier to give Pitts a pass for year two due to his success as a rookie and the overall ineptitude of the 2022 Falcons. Remember, Pitts was catching passes from the shell of Matt Ryan and Marcus Mariota, who was much better served as a backup at this point.

Pitts’ head coach at the time, Arthur Smith, also dismissed questions about Pitts’ lack of involvement in the offense, letting critics know that “It's not fantasy football. We're just trying to win.”

None of this reflected well on Pitts or Smith, and there were numerous calls for the Falcons to explore trading Pitts to a team that could potentially utilize him better.

Looking at Pitts’ situation as a whole, and the injury in the back half of the season, there was renewed optimism for third-year Kyle Pitts. Pitts did not recapture that rookie year magic in year three. The Falcons still struggled mightily with Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke at the helm.

Pitts managed to put up more than 600 yards, but it felt far from a success. The lack of touchdowns continued to be a major red flag, with only six scores across his first three years in the league. Another red flag during the season was that Pitts was seemingly outplayed and surpassed at times by veteran Jonnu Smith.

As the season progressed, it didn’t feel like Pitts had a firm hold on the starting role for his team, despite finishing with more yards than Smith. Pitts’ shortcomings and lack of development as a blocker held him back from being the three-down contributor the Falcons likely expected when he was drafted with the fourth overall pick.

That brings us to 2024. Optimism among Pitts truthers once again reached a fever pitch with a new coaching staff to fully unlock his skill set and the addition of veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins — the Kyle Pitts breakout was finally here.

Well… that didn’t happen.

It was more of the same from Pitts; his missing explosiveness and fluidity remained conspicuous — qualities he was known for at Florida and even as a rookie. Cousins did not look his way often, and despite Pitts playing in all 17 games, he did not surpass his yardage totals from the prior season.

On the plus side, Pitts did set his career high in touchdowns (four), though that was far from the expectations that were set out for him to start the season.

When you dig into the film, there are some common threads as to why Pitts has not lived up to the immense hype built up for him. However, despite everything I just wrote, there are some reasons to believe that Pitts is a late bloomer at a challenging position in the NFL.

Pitts’ lack of explosion holds him back

If you had told me a few years ago, I would be talking about Pitts’ lacking athleticism, I would be shocked to my core. His ability to create separation as a route runner and make defenders miss in space was one of his main calling cards in college.

Pitts could easily slip in and out of breaks and stemmed his routes with excellent precision. Unfortunately, this strength has not translated to the NFL. He looks much more heavy-footed than he did in college, and to be frank, does not look anywhere near the same player.