Kyle Pitts burst onto the scene as a rookie after the Falcons made him the highest-drafted tight end in league history, recording 1,026 yards and a touchdown on 68 catches en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.
However, poor quarterback play and an injury limited him to just 28 catches and 356 yards in 2022. An offseason surgery to clean up the injured MCL led many Falcons fans to believe that 2021 Kyle Pitts would be back in 2023; we were wrong.
Pitts ended up with 53 catches for 667 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, which wasn’t bad but still not up to the par of his record-breaking rookie campaign. If you ask Pitts, though, he’d consider the season a success because he was able to stay healthy.
“A return to play. A return to, my goal was to finish the year out and healthily get to the end,” Pitts told ESPN in the week prior to the season finale. “To get to the 18-game mark, a full year after the injury, that was something I was looking forward to.
“But the season, that was something that obviously had its ups and downs, its ebbs and flows and it just comes with it. But for the most part it’s a lot more ups than downs.”
The reality is that Kyle Pitts was recovering throughout the season, not just the offseason, from an injured PCL as well as the commonly known MCL injury, revealed in an Instagram post last week.
Arthur Smith protected Pitts in public by constantly saying things like he had a long road to recovery without blatantly stating he was recovering from a more serious injury than initially thought.
With more perspective, Kyle Pitts’ third year in the league should be considered a success because not only did he once again deal with shotty quarterback play but he was also dealing with the knee. If you ask his position coach, it’s not even a question.
“In my mind, I still say that he’s a better football player right now than he was his rookie year,” Falcons tight ends coach Justin Peelle said. “Just with the experience and then becoming an NFL professional and all those things that come with it.”
The Falcons have a big decision this offseason on Kyle Pitts’ fifth-year option. Even before knowing the extent of his injury, it was a no-brainer to exercise it. Now, it’s a foregone conclusion that Pitts will play in 2025 on his fifth-year option.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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