Kyle

Pitts

It was a forgettable end to a forgettable season for Pitts. For the third straight year, the former first round pick was among the most disappointing players in all of fantasy football. New Falcons OC Zac Robinson, like Arthur Smith before him, had little idea of how to properly utilize Pitts, who is neither a tight end nor a wideout. Targeted on a humble 15 percent of his pass routes, Pitts managed 45 receptions in 2024, below his 53-catch total from 2023. He had a career-high four touchdowns, one of which came from Michael Penix. Pitts, who had just two games with more than four catches this season, will likely be over-drafted by fantasy gamers once again in 2025 because he was highly touted coming out of college four years ago.

Pitts committed a drop late in the fourth quarter on the team’s penultimate drive of the game which forced the first fourth down of the drive for the Falcons. Quarterback Michael Penix would convert that fourth down to sustain the drive, one that ultimately concluded with a fourth down touchdown reception by Pitts to tie the game with just over a minute remaining to play. They would force a quick three-and-out and drove into field goal position via a defensive pass interference penalty, but the 57-yard field goal attempt ultimately fell just short to send the game into overtime. Jayden Daniels would ensure the Falcons would not see the ball again, sending the team to the No. 8 seed in the NFC. They now require a win over the Panthers and a Buccaneers loss to the Saints in Week 18 to make the postseason.

Pitts’ missed connection was a horrendous goal-line bobble and drop that led to a Michael Penix “interception.” Even with Penix immediately providing more life under center than Kirk Cousins, today was a continuation of Pitts’ nightmare year. He can’t be trusted against the Commanders’ decent pass defense for the fantasy finals in Week 17.

Pitts continues to split snaps with Charlie Woerner and Ross Dwelley due to the latter two’s blocking abilities, which has influenced Pitts’ snap and route participation rates during the second half of the season. Kirk Cousins and an extremely positive game environment did the athletic tight end no favors, which combined to limit the Falcons to just 17 pass attempts. 2024 will go down as a massive bust for the once-promising tight end prospect.

Charlie Woerner caught a ball before Pitts and ended up tying him in receptions. Pitts now has one-or-zero grabs in four of his past five appearances. The six targets were an increase on what Pitts has seen of late, but they were of low quality. One was a sailed Kirk Cousins interception. Another was a failed end zone connection. Yet another was a Pitts drop. Just awful, awful stuff from all involved. Cousins is now on weekly benching watch, but especially with bye weeks finally over, Pitts is struggling to even remain in the top 20 at tight end heading into Week 15 against the Raiders.

The “zero ball” was Pitts’ second of the season. Once again under 50 percent of the snaps, Pitts is turning into a passing downs role player. That’s bad news since the Falcons prefer the run and Kirk Cousins continues to turn into a pumpkin under center. By now fantasy managers know all too much about Pitts’ “upside” at the expense of his 0.0 downside. A six-bye Week 14 keeps Pitts in the TE12-15 range, but he is tumbling down the TE2 ranks.

It was a down day for Pitts and the rest of the Atlanta pass catchers as Kirk Cousins faced constant pressure and managed just 173 scoreless yards before being rested in the fourth quarter of a lopsided affair. Pitts, with at least four catches in three of his past four games, should get back on track in Week 12 against the Chargers.

It was a nice bounce back from his Week 9 performance against the Cowboys, in which he had one catch for 11 yards. Pitts worked as Kirk Cousins’ main check down option against the Saints in a game that saw Cousins throw short of the sticks over and over again. Pitts took a big hit on a first half reception but seemed fine afterward. Pitts will be a startable fantasy option in Week 11 against the Broncos.

After being limited on Wednesday and Thursday, Pitts was upgraded to a full participant on Friday and removed from the team’s final injury report. Pitts caught only one pass in Week 9’s win over the Cowboys but had been running hot prior to that. A consistent high-risk, mid-reward play, Pitts will be a fringe TE1 on Sunday against the Saints.

Pitts is dealing with his fourth recorded hamstring strain and another Limited Participant designation only really tells us that he is unlikely to have suffered a setback. Pitts is trending toward uncertain Week 10 usage, if active, in what could be a run-heavy game script.