Kyle Pitts came out hot as a rookie, posting what was only the second ever 1,000-yard receiving season for a tight end (the other was Mike Ditka in 1961). Even Sam LaPorta, in his great rookie year, didn’t crack 900 yards. Now Brock Bowers has joined the exclusive club to make it a three-man group following his breakout 2024 season.

Unfortunately for Kyle Pitts, he has not lived up to that rookie season in his three subsequent years. There’s been a lot of changes in terms of playcalling and quarterback but plenty of guys have thrived despite that. With only one year left on his deal, we find ourselves wondering whether it’s time for a change of scenery for the former 4th overall pick. 

He’s only 24 years old after all. The 2025 NFL Draft, like every NFL Draft, should provide a lot of opportunities for teams to swap players and picks as they attempt to build their schemes of the future.

If the Kyle Pitts rumors are true, the Falcons are open to potentially trading him this offseason. Let’s take a moment to look at the player, at some possible trade destinations, and what the outlook would be for his value in your dynasty fantasy football leagues, if you dabble in that. 

 

 

 

The Kyle Pitts Journey: From First Round Pick To Pariah

Imagine a super athletic tight end drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. In his rookie year, he has a great season while playing with an aging star NFL quarterback. In the following years he struggles, however. 

He deals with injuries. The quarterback play is subpar. And he just doesn’t fit the scheme with coaches often playing him inline rather than his natural spot out wide. To add insult to injury, the team that drafted him picked up his fifth year option, trapping him with the organization despite not using him to his maximum potential. 

You might think I’m talking about Kyle Pitts here. And, to some degree, I am. But it’s also the story of Evan Engram. He thrived with Eli Manning as a rookie, finishing as a top five tight end in fantasy football. 

Then he struggled through years of Daniel Jones at QB and coaches like Jason Garrett using him incorrectly. Injuries derailed multiple seasons for him and his confidence was shot as he struggled with drops. Despite that, his peers still voted him to the Pro Bowl in 2020. 

Eventually, after the Giants kept him for his fifth year option season, Engram was allowed to leave in free agency where he could choose his own destination. He decided to join the Jacksonville Jaguars, where Doug Pederson would use him as “big slot” and Trevor Lawrence could actually deliver the football. 

In his second season there he caught the second most passes a tight end has ever caught. And, now that Liam Coen is the new coach in Jacksonville with a scheme that doesn’t fit Engram either, he’s off to play the “joker” role for Sean Payton in Denver. You couldn’t pick a better landing spot for his skill set. 

Kyle Pitts thrived with Matt Ryan. He’s since dealt with injuries, a revolving door of mediocre quarterbacks, and coaches that don’t seem to know how to use him. His agents, David Mulugheta and Andre Odom of Athlete’s First, are probably wondering how they can find a similar path to the one Engram took. Or possibly something that requires less waiting. 

 

 

 

The Atlanta Falcons & Zac Robinson vs. Kyle Pitts 

As I just mentioned, Liam Coen does not use tight ends built like Evan Engram. He uses a WR in the slot primarily like Cooper Kupp, Chris Godwin, and now Brian Thomas That’s why they cleaned out the slot guys like Christian Kirk and Evan Engram. They want Brian Thomas Jr in the slot and a two-way, inline tight end with an emphasis on blocking. 

I mention Liam Coen because he and Zac Robinson are both from the Sean McVay coaching tree. They overlapped with the Rams for three years, including 2022 when Coen was the offensive coordinator and Robinson was the pass game coordinator. 

The scheme heavily featured three wide receivers with Tyler Higbee as the inline two-way tight end. Coen used Cade Otton in this role with the Buccaneers and now he’s looking at Brenton Strange or possibly a rookie in Jacksonville. 

The issue for Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson is that, like Evan Engram, Kyle Pitts does not fit that mold. He’s basically a big wide receiver. Robinson attempted to play Pitts out of position, much like Jason Garrett did with Evan Engram with the Giants. 

Over the first 7 games, Pitts played double digit inline snaps, averaging 27 snaps per game inline and never playing fewer than 23. Pitts actually ended up as only the TE18 in slot snaps on the season per PlayerProfiler. 

Over the final 10 games, Zac Robinson clearly started to give up on Pitts as a two-way tight end. He only surpassed 20 inline snaps twice in those games. He went from playing 77% of the snaps overall over the first seven games and never playing less than 64% in any game to playing under 50% of the snaps in six games, including the final four. And who picked up those snaps? Charlie Woerner.

As you can see, Woerner actually surpassed Pitts in snaps over the second half of the year. Kyle Pitts is not the right tight end for the scheme. Charlie Woerner might not be perfect either, but his blocking ability puts him ahead of Pitts. 

The same thing happened with Mike McDaniel and the Dolphins when he needed a tight end who could block. Mike Gesicki was obviously the better pass-catcher than Durham Smythe. But Smythe played far more than Gesicki because he could block. Gesicki was gone shortly after and the Dolphins eventually moved on from Smythe to Jonnu Smith, who was a better scheme fit.

 

 

 

Kyle Pitts Rumors: Trade Incoming? 

The Falcons already picked up the fifth-year option for Pitts. That means he’s on the books for nearly $10.9 million dollars in 2025. And, given his lack of production in recent years, that makes him a tough asset to potentially sell. But the Falcons should certainly be interested in moving him as his entire ~$10.9M cap hit would go with him to the new team.

The newly minted Trey McBride contract at four years, $76M moves the needle for the entire tight end industry which makes an extension even tougher all of a sudden. If Pitts doesn’t fit the scheme and they don’t plan to extend him, they should consider moving him for the cap savings alone which could mean trading him for a Day 3 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft or a pick in future years. 

Some may have given up on Pitts. But I look at the Evan Engram situation as well as the scheme restrictions and see upside for this player - in the right role. There are teams out there that have both cap space to use and targets available. 

Why not kick the tires on a guy like Pitts on a one year deal? If he walks in free agency, you can likely get a compensatory pick back. Or you might discover new upside for your team like the Jaguars did with Evan Engram. Here are five teams that could consider it. 

 

 

 

Los Angeles Chargers

Greg Roman was able to orchestrate a top five all time fantasy tight end season with Mark Andrews. And, in that season, Andrews lined up at WR for 85% of his routes. One year Mark Andrews finished as a top 5 TE in fantasy while only playing 41% of the overall team snaps. 

Nick Boyle, the inline blocking TE, played nearly double his snaps that season. After Ladd McConkey they could use some help in the pass game and kicking the tires on Pitts could make sense. Tyler Conklin/Will Dissly can handle the inline duties. 

New York Jets

They let Tyler Conklin leave so the top of their depth chart is Jeremy Ruckert and our favorite deep sleeper Stone Smartt. 

With the departure of Davante Adams, they also don’t have a secondary pass-catcher after Garrett Wilson. Pitts would immediately be the second best “wide receiver” on the team. 

New England Patriots

The Patriots are in need of pass-catchers of any kind. After Stefon Diggs there isn’t much going on. And he’s coming off a torn ACL. They have an inline tight end in Hunter Henry already. 

They could use Pitts immediately at split end, big slot, H-back, you name it. And offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was there when they had Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez so he can dust off some of the plays from that era. 

Kansas City Chiefs

This one is simple. The Chiefs use Travis Kelce as their “big slot” tight end with Noah Gray as their inline tight end. 

Why not take a shot on a high-risk, high-reward heir-apparent to Travis Kelce. Kyle Pitts is literally a full decade younger than Kelce. 

Dallas Cowboys

CeeDee Lamb is a star. After that, though, their best wide receivers are who? Jonathan Mingo? Jalen Tolbert? Jake Ferguson is an inline tight end who runs a 4.81 forty. 

Kyle Pitts, who runs a 4.5, would be a great compliment to Ferguson and would deserve WR snaps over anyone not named Lamb. This is the exact kind of player that Jerry Jones get infatuated with. And the Cowboys quietly have the 6th most cap space of any team. 

 

 

 

Kyle Pitts Fantasy Football Dynasty Outlook 

Whether Kyle Pitts is traded or not, I still believe the talent is in there. And, just like we did with Evan Engram, he’s closer right now to a buy than he is to a sell in your fantasy football dynasty leagues. 

If he does get traded during the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, his price will go up based on intrigue alone. Based on Alex Korff’s dynasty trade charts, which attempt to capture industry sentiment, Pitts could be had for a second-round rookie pick right now. 

If he doesn’t get traded, then we are in the same spot we were with Engram. We wait for Kyle Pitts to leave in 2026 as a free agent. Pitts will be 25 years old next offseason when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Engram didn’t leave for the Jaguars until he was 28. 

Zach Ertz didn’t have his first 1,000 yard season until he was 28. Even a guy like Travis Kelce didn’t have his first 1,000 yard season until he was 27. Both are still in the league now, contributing at 34-35 years old. Pitts might not hang around that long, but he still has a lot of football left to play. And I’m not giving up just yet.