Read more about the Falcons<\/a><\/p>\nTight end Charlie Woerner gave the Falcons much better run blocking than Pitts and, in fact, played more offensive snaps than Pitts in five of the team\u2019s final six games. With his disappointing play, Pitts played a role in the Falcons\u2019 extending their playoff drought to seven seasons.<\/p>\n
So much for huge value.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, on the Falcons\u2019 first day of minicamp, I asked coach Raheem Morris if anything in particular held Pitts back last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of going out there and doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was more to the response, but those 12 words spoke loudly, particularly considering two of Morris\u2019 patterns.<\/p>\n
In dealing with media, he is quite adept at answering a question at length without really addressing the substance of it. Also, Morris tends to lean to the positive when speaking about his players.<\/p>\n
To that end, Morris left no uncertainty about his view of Pitts\u2019 2024.<\/p>\n
Morris said something else interesting about Pitts on Tuesday: that there is \u201cpressure that lives on his chest\u201d from the expectations placed on him for being the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, the earliest a tight end has been selected.<\/p>\n
Morris presumably wouldn\u2019t have brought it up if it weren\u2019t the case. It was a reminder that Pitts is an actual human, however unlike the rest of us he might appear.<\/p>\n
Regardless, the Falcons haven\u2019t given up on him, not that they have a lot of choice. <\/p>\n
He remains their best pass-catching tight end and, after spending a top-five draft pick on him, they\u2019d like to get more from their investment. There has been trade chatter, but there\u2019s little reason to think he\u2019s going anywhere.<\/p>\n
Morris remains hopeful that Pitts will improve through his connection with Penix in the quarterback\u2019s second season. Pitts was the target for what arguably was Penix\u2019s biggest moment last season \u2014 a 13-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter against Washington when the Falcons faced fourth-and-goal with less than 90 seconds remaining while trailing 24-17.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Pitts) has got very high standards for himself, and I feel really good about those two working together and absolutely getting a better result,\u201d Morris said.<\/p>\n
The potential is so obvious and tantalizing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s super talented,\u201d Morris said. \u201cThat\u2019s always going to be the thing that gives you hope for Kyle, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Falcons fans know all about it, namely the size\/speed\/strength combination that makes him such a problem to cover and tackle after the catch.<\/p>\n
It was on full display when Pitts, teaming with the great Matt Ryan, made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2021. The flashes have popped far less frequently since.<\/p>\n
\u201cI keep on saying that he\u2019s a freaking unicorn,\u201d London said. \u201cI don\u2019t know somebody who\u2019s (6-foot-6, 250 pounds), fricking running like that. And then, too, he has great, great route skills, great hands and, too, he blocks. \u2026 Just seeing him out there doing his thing for the last three years is really, really cool, and I think we\u2019re excited for this year, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy for the Falcons to be excited about Pitts in June. Whether they\u2019ll feel the same in January is the question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a second-year quarterback (Michael Penix Jr.) whose progress in the offseason has delighted his coaches. Then…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[2566,223,254,2554,224,7,262,6337,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-122237","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-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","15":"tag-mercedes-benz-stadium","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114666626507166338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122237","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=122237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}