When the Falcons took tight end Kyle Pitts with the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, the hope was that he’d develop into a matchup nightmare for defenses in the passing game.
It’s only been six games, but Pitts is showing signs of making that dream come true. He had seven catches for 163 yards in Sunday’s 30-28 win over the Dolphins, including two grabs for 47 yards to set up Younghoe Koo’s game-winning field goal. Those catches came against man coverage and Pitts said after the game that he was pleased to see that’s how Miami chose to play him.
“I was surprised and excited,” Pitts said, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Pitts’ 163 receiving yards are the fourth-best by a rookie tight end in a single game and his 471 receiving yards through six games are the most by any tight end through his first six games. That kind of production will likely mean less man coverage in the future because Pitts is making it clear that he’s going to be a difficult player for any single defender to cover.