As Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts continues to miss voluntary OTA’s with a previously undisclosed injury that has since been reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter as a strained muscle in his foot, talks surrounding his availability as a trade piece have not died down in the slightest. In addition to Atlanta seemingly being open to trading their 2021 1st Round pick, it’s also been reported by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that although Pitts hasn’t requested a trade, he’d indeed be open to being moved to a team where his role within the offense could be expanded.
However, just because both the Falcons and Pitts himself appear to be moving in a direction where it feels like a trade may be inevitable, it doesn’t mean that anything is imminent. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer explained why in a recent mailbag column.
“I’m just not sure I see a match right now. This seems to me like the sort of story that only gains steam in June,” Breer noted before offering explanation as to why a Kyle Pitts trade could end up being so difficult.
“Yes, Pitts is talented. But his 2022 knee injury left a mark. He regularly had to get the knee drained in ’23. It stunted his development as a player who was still learning the position,” Breer wrote.
Coming off of one of the most productive rookie seasons ever by a tight end, it looked as if Kyle Pitts was going to be well-worth the 4th overall pick the Falcons used to select him in the 2021 NFL Draft, ahead of other 1st round pass-catchers such as Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, and DeVonta Smith. But a torn MCL in the middle of his second season permanently derailed Pitts’ quest to be one of the NFL’s most productive tight ends.
Since his 1,026 yard rookie campaign, which at the time was the second-highest output ever by a first year tight end, Pitts has only hauled in just 128 receptions for 1,625 yards in the 44 games that have followed.
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Kyle Pitts will tentatively play the 2025 season on a $10.88 million fifth-year option. He’ll be a free agent after the season, and unless he takes a major step forward in his second year under offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, it remains unlikely the Falcons would make it a priority to keep him around long-term. But this assumes that Pitts will make it through the entire season still in a Falcons uniform.
Atlanta is in the hunt for a day 2 NFL Draft pick at minimum in any deal for Pitts, but as the trade deadline gets closer, they may need to move the metaphorical goalposts a bit in order to ensure they don’t just end up letting him walk at season’s end.
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