Earlier this offseason, I explained why I was willing to give Kyle Pitts another chance in 2024.
The basis of the argument was that Pitts has proven he is good by recording over 1,000 receiving yards in his rookie season. All of Arthur Smith, Desmond Ridder, and Marcus Mariota have proven they are bad. We know this because even the Falcons have moved on. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but there’s little question the coaching and quarterback play were holding Pitts back after he had one of the best rookie seasons by a TE ever.
Kyle Pitts is going to be playing with his 5th starting QB next year in just 4 seasons. Made the Pro-Bowl his rookie year, broke a few records, and had a 1k yd season. Had a season ending injury last season. Give him a good QB next season and watch him work! I believe in him! pic.twitter.com/yTtcMSQJ6P
— Carrie (@carrielynnxox) December 21, 2023
With a new coaching staff featuring offensive coordinator Zac Robinson — who came from the innovative Sean McVay coaching tree — along with the signing of Kirk Cousins and the drafting of Michael Penix Jr. in the top-10 of the NFL draft, the Falcons were on the right track to rectifying the errors of the past two seasons.
We should have known something was up when the only highlight we saw of Pitts during the offseason was a good-but-not-great catch on a bad pass from Cousins during OTAs — a play which was then posted over and over on social media leading up to the season.
Oooo, @kylepitts__ 👀 pic.twitter.com/t7m0TapA20
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) May 20, 2024
In the grand scheme of fantasy football, highlights are minimally important. So who cares, right?
In what was a juicier nugget of information, it was said that Pitts was learning to play both wide receiver and tight end in the Falcons’ new offense. Now that was something worth getting excited about.
Raheem Morris himself then went on to say that the team had a plan in place to utilize Pitts’ unique talents.
#Falcons HC Raheem Morris on Kyle Pitts:
“There’s gonna be a plan to get those guys all involved — particularly him. He’ll be a focal point of what we want to do.” pic.twitter.com/ciqvZRWeD3
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) April 16, 2024
After watching the first two weeks of the 2024 season, maybe it was more of a “concept of a plan.”
Sure, Pitts scored a touchdown at the end of the first half in Week 1, and Pitts truthers rejoiced.
Kyle Pitts finally has himself a QB. The result: TOUCHDOWN pic.twitter.com/LpIEIWXpdL
— 49ers & NFL News 24/7 (@49ersSportsTalk) September 8, 2024
But the TD aside, Pitts has done relatively little in his first two games this season. Looking at Pitts’ game splits, so little has changed from the past two seasons that you’d be forgiven for wondering if Smith isn’t still secretly controlling the Falcons’ offensive play calling from afar.
On the surface, Pitts’ rank as the PPR TE7 in 2024 does not look bad. Then we have to factor in how badly TEs have played thus far in the season. On top of that, if we were to take away his Week 1 TD, Pitts falls 10 spots into a tie with Juwan Johnson as the TE17.
Two games isn’t much to go off of, but Pitts’ usage this season is still concerning. How worried should we be about Pitts moving forward, and is there a chance that we have already seen the best he has to offer?
Pitts infamously had some of the worst QB play in the league over the past couple seasons, as he had the lowest percentage of catchable passes among TEs who earned at least 50 targets in both 2022 (57%) and 2023 (73%). Pitts has caught all six of his targets in 2024, but his aDOT of 4.5 yards is a far cry from what we saw over the past two seasons.
2024
2023
2022
While Pitts’ route participation and yards per target are up slightly, the majority of his efficiency metrics are down across the board.
If Atlanta’s new coaching staff truly has a plan in place for Pitts, let’s hope they are waiting until Week 3 to unveil it. And what better time to feature Pitts than against a Chiefs defense that has been lit up by TEs dating back to the end of last season.
While Isaiah Likely, Hunter Henry, and Mike Gesicki are all good players in their own right, none of them are the same level of talent as Pitts. Currently teetering on the “fool me three times” end of the spectrum, I do still believe fantasy managers should start Pitts with confidence this week. If he puts up another dud against the Chiefs, then it will be time to start looking for other options until Pitts proves he is worth all the chances we’ve given him.
