{"id":100049,"date":"2025-06-03T06:50:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T06:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/100049\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T06:50:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T06:50:22","slug":"falcons-kyle-pitts-sidelined-by-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/100049\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons\u2019 Kyle Pitts sidelined by injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"6\">Pitts, 24, has underwhelmed as the highest drafted tight end in history (No. 4 overall). Since surpassing 1,000 yards as a rookie, he has accrued 1,625 yards combined over the past three seasons. Despite his lumbering 6-foot-6 presence, he\u2019s recorded only 10 touchdowns in 61 games. He\u2019s remained better in concept than actuality.<\/p>\n<p>Explore<a class=\"headline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/sports\/atlanta-falcons\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Read more about the Falcons<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"8\">This is a pivotal season for the Florida product. He\u2019s playing on his fifth-year option and will hit free agency in March. It has felt like this is trending toward a parting of ways, as is typically the case when a highly drafted player doesn\u2019t find sustained success with his original team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"9\">Naturally, Pitts has been the subject of trade speculation as a change-of-scenery candidate. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/article\/espn-breaks-down-trade-rumors-213028692.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ESPN recently reported<\/a> that some teams feel the Falcons and Pitts would be open to a deal. It\u2019s fair to wonder what value the Falcons would extract. Teams would need to make it worth their while, as swapping Pitts\u2019 potential for a middling draft pick wouldn\u2019t do much for a Falcons front office that needs immediate results.<\/p>\n<p>Explore<a class=\"headline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/sports\/2025\/05\/falcons-kyle-pitts-doesnt-make-first-round-in-pfns-2021-redraft\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Falcons\u2019 Kyle Pitts doesn\u2019t make first round in PFN\u2019s 2021 redraft<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"12\">As long as he\u2019s here, the team will hope Pitts provides ascending young quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with another target. In three games with Penix to end last season, Pitts had seven catches (on 10 targets) for 66 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"14\">There isn\u2019t much beyond Pitts on the depth chart. Former Georgia Bulldog Charlie Woerner is the backup, making a bit over $3 million. The team also brought back Feleipe Franks as depth. Without Pitts\u2019 perceived upside, the Falcons have one of the least talented tight end groups in the NFL. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"15\">They do, however, have two reliable wide receivers (Drake London and Darnell Mooney) and a strong rushing attack to lean on. <\/p>\n<p class=\"story-text \" data-index=\"16\">The Falcons\u2019 mandatory minicamp begins next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pitts, 24, has underwhelmed as the highest drafted tight end in history (No. 4 overall). Since surpassing 1,000&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[2566,223,254,25986,2554,224,7,6337,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-100049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-ajc-freelancer","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlanta-falcons-vs-seattle-seahawks","12":"tag-atlantafalcons","13":"tag-falcons","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-mercedes-benz-stadium","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114618107576170320","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}