Falcons training camp is right around the corner as we head towards the most highly anticipated season in quite some time.
Most of that is tied to the quarterback position. Not only is Kirk Cousins expected to help a talented yet underachieving roster realize their full potential, but Michal Penix’s mere presence sparks intrigue.
Raheem Morris and Zac Robinson will also be topics of conversation this offseason. Morris won’t have the kind of leeway that his predecessor did; the new Falcons coach knows he has to produce immediately.
Robinson, on the other hand, is tasked with integrating a new quarterback into his system which is expected to maximize the club’s three top 10 picks in Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and Bijan Robinson.
London and Robinson have never played with a quarterback of Kirk Cousins’ caliber. Pitts’ first year was Matt Ryan’s final in Atlanta, and even if he was in the twilight years of his career, the Falcons stalwart helped the rookie tight end to a Pro Bowl season.
Pitts nearly broke Mike Ditka’s NFL record for receiving yards by a rookie tight end, recording 1,026 yards. However, his production dropped off a cliff in 2022 and 2023, in part, due to quarterback play but also injuries, including a season-ending knee surgery in 2022.
The hope is Cousins, health, and Robinson’s new offense will help Pitts back to the heights he reached in 2021 and hopefully even higher. A new role may help him get there too.
“He’s learning basically two different positions,” Zac Robinson said of Pitts playing tight end and wide receiver, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So, he’s got a lot on his plate.”
When the Falcons made Kyle Pitts the highest-drafted tight end in NFL history, the idea was that Arthur Smith, a former tight ends coach, would understand exactly how to deploy him.
It was thought that he would move him all over the formation as a weapon, not just a tight end. That happened, but the production never matched expectations, outside of his rookie season.
Pitts struggled to get the ball. Regardless of whether it was poor quarterback play or poor play design, the Falcons weren’t seeing a return on their 4th overall investment. Robinson’s words are eerily similar to those of Arthur Smith before the 2021 campaign.
“We’ll move him around the formation,” Robinson said. “We’ll use him as blocker. We’ll use him as a receiver. We’ll use him all across the board.”
Hopefully, Zac Robinson has a better approach to get Kyle Pitts the ball, and he’s not just a “decoy” like he was in Arthur Smith’s offense. Moving Pitts around isn’t any different than Smith; Pitts lined up in the slot or out wide on over 75% of his snaps last season, so Robinson isn’t inventing the wheel here.
It’s simple. Get Kyle Pitts the ball, regardless of where he’s line up.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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