Is Kyle Pitts worth a top-10 pick? Breaking down the highest-drafted tight ends in NFL history

Bill Bender

Is Kyle Pitts worth a top-10 pick? Breaking down the highest-drafted tight ends in NFL history image

Florida tight end Kyle Pitts will be a first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.  

Pitts, who caught 43 passes for 770 yards and 12 TDs for the Gators as a junior in 2020, evokes comparisons to Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson because of his measurements.  

Pitts is 6-5, 245 pounds with an 83-inch wingspan. He runs a 4.44 in the 40-yard dash. He has a 33.5-inch vertical and hit 22 reps on 225 pounds. He would have been one of the main attractions of the NFL Scouting Combine with those numbers.  

Johnson was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, but he was a receiver. Pitts is a tight end, and that makes him a more intriguing prospect in some ways because of the history at the position.  

MORE NFL DRAFT: Complete 7-round mock | Top 100 big board

How many tight ends have been first-round picks?  

A total of 56 tight ends have been selected in the first round since the first common draft in 1967. Penn State tight end Ted Kwalick was selected with the No. 7 pick by Penn State in 1969.  

Of those 56 tight ends, a total of 28 made at least one Pro Bowl appearance.  

Highest-drafted tight ends in NFL history 

A total of 14 tight ends have been selected with top-10 picks since 1967.

Denver took Riley Odoms with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1972 NFL Draft – the highest selection ever for a tight end.  

YEAR PLAYER PICK TEAM COLLEGE
1972 Riley Odoms 5 Denver Houston
2006 Vernon Davis 6 San Francisco Maryland
1973 Charle Young 6 Philadelphia USC
2004 Kellen Winlsow II 6 Cleveland Miami, Fla.
1970 Steve Zabel 6 Philadelphia Oklahoma
1969 Ted Kwalick 7 San Francisco Penn State
1980 Junior Miller 7 Atlanta Nebraska
1974 J.V. Cain 7 St. Louis Colorado
1978 Ken MacAfee 7 San Francisco Notre Dame
1973 Paul Seymour 7 Buffalo Michigan
2019 T.J. Hockenson 8 Detroit Iowa
1996 Rickey Dudley 9 Oakland Ohio State
1995 Kyle Brady 9 N.Y. Jets Penn State
2014 Eric Ebron 10 Detroit North Carolina

Out of those tight ends, Vernon Davis had the best career. He finished with 583 receptions for 7,562 yards and 63 TDs. Davis enjoyed a 14-year career that was productive, and he might be the better comparison to Pitts. Davis was 6-3, 248 pounds and ran a 4.39 at the NFL Combine.  

How risky is drafting a tight end in Round 1?  

There is a bust factor at work. A total of 20 of those 56 tight ends – or 35.7 percent – finished with less than 2,000 receiving yards for their career. A total of 16 — or 28.5 percent — finished with more than 5,000 receiving yards for their career. Here is a look at the most-productive first-round tight ends in NFL history:  

YEAR PLAYER PICK REC YDS TDS
1997 Tony Gonzalez 13 1,325 15,127 111
2007 Greg Olsen 31 742 8,683 60
1978 Ozzie Newsome 23 662 7,980 47
2006 Vernon Davis 6 583 7,562 63
1979 Kellen Winslow 13 541 6,741 45
2005 Heath Miller 30 592 6,569 45
2002 Jeremy Shockey 14 547 6,143 37
2004 Benjamin Watson 32 547 6,058 44
2001 Todd Heap 31 499 5,869 42
1972 Riley Odoms 5 396 5,755 41
2003 Dallas Clark 24 505 5,665 53
1988 Keith Jackson 13 441 5,283 49
1975 Russ Francis 16 393 5,262 40
2004 Kellen Winslow II 6 469 5,236 25
1973 Charle Young 6 418 5,106 27
1970 Raymond Chester 24 364 5,013 48

Gonzalez, Newsome and Winslow are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Clark is a candidate to join them in Canton. That 5,000-yard threshold would be the minimum expectation should a team draft Pitts with a first-round pick.  

First-round TE draft picks since 2010 

Here is a look at tight ends drafted in the first round since 2010 and their production in the NFL to this point:  

YEAR PLAYER PICK REC YDS TDS
2010 Jermaine Gresham 21 377 3,752 29
2013 Tyler Eifert 21 221 2,501 26
2014 Eric Ebron 10 339 3,753 32
2017 Evan Engram 23 216 2,420 13
2017 David Njoku 29 112 1,279 11
2018 Hayden Hurst 25 99 1,083 9
2019 Noah Fant 20 102 1,235 6
2019 T.J. Hockenson 8 99 1,090 8

Hockenson and Fant have enjoyed success in their first two seasons. Ebron has the most production, but several of these tight ends have battled injuries and inconsistency throughout their careers.  

Kyle Pitts draft projections

Atlanta Falcons (No. 4) 

The Falcons would be the first team not to take a quarterback, and Pitts would fit in an offense that already features Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. Atlanta does have Hayden Hurst, however, so Ja'Marr Chase is a candidate to be taken in this spot.  

Cincinnati Bengals (No. 5) 

The Bengals are a better bet to take Oregon tackle Penei Sewell, but there are value picks at offensive line in the second and third rounds, respectively. Pitts could open the middle of the field and be a dominant red-zone target for Joe Burrow.  Cincinnati, however, already tried this with Jermaine Gresham (2013) and Tyler Eifert (2013).  

Miami Dolphins (No. 6)  

Miami has shuffled around the draft board through trades, and this would be a question of who quarterback Tua Tagovailoa wants. Would Alabama receivers DeVonta Smith or Jaylen Waddle be better fits here knowing the Dolphins already have Mike Gesicki at tight end?  

Carolina Panthers (No. 8)  

The Panthers traded for Sam Darnold, so it's unlikely (but still possible) they take a quarterback here. The Panthers had a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson last season, and Pitts would be the perfect target to add to that.  

Dallas Cowboys (No. 10) 

The Cowboys have a loaded offense, and Dak Prescott is on the recovery trail. Add Pitts to the mix, and it becomes one of the best offenses in the NFL around Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, CeeDee Lamb and a solid offensive line. Jerry Jones could make that splash here, and it's a good fit.  

Phiadelphia Eagles (No. 12) 

We don't see Pitts falling any further than this, and if he does reach No. 10 then a team might trade up to get the star tight end. Zach Ertz has been a trade candidate through the offseason, and drafting Pitts would make that move easier.

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.