As he navigates a new scheme this off-season under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson, Pitts is working double-time to become an impact player for this Falcons offense. ESPN's Marc Raimondi reports that Robinson has Pitts "learning basically two different positions, because there's some tight end [work] and there's some receiver." With this extensive workload, Robinson is "excited to see [Pitts] continue to get more comfortable in the system."
In his historic rookie year, Pitts hauled in 68 of his 107 targets for 1026 yards, all while lining up out wide 34.2% of the time, the most of any tight end in 2021, according to PFF. That was the allure of Pitts when he came into the league, that ability to cause mismatches and win from various spots on the offense. A quarterback's dream is to have a big-bodied target like Pitts that can line up all over the field. It opens up the offense in ways that other weapons simply can't.
Earlier this off-season, Pitts stated that his job as a tight end is to be quarterback Kirk Cousins' "safety blanket." All the great quarterbacks had that safety blanket they could rely on.
- Tom Brady had Rob Gronkowski
- Patrick Mahomes has Travis Kelce
- Peyton Manning had Dallas Clark
- John Elway had Shannon Sharpe
- Matt Ryan had Tony Gonzales
Pitts is looking to be next on this list for Cousins and, eventually, rookie Michael Penix, Jr. Raimondi's article emphasized how Pitts has a "personal vendetta" to get back to his rookie year form, according to head coach Raheem Morris.
Every year since his rookie year, his yards per route run, a metric used by PFF to see how efficiently a particular is being used, has gone down.
- 2021: 2.02 (4th among tight ends)
- 2022: 1.69 (7th)
- 2023: 1.43 (16th)
During his time in Minnesota, Cousins hasn't had a tight end like Pitts. The closest he's had is T.J. Hockenson last season, who still spent about half of his snaps as an in-line tight end in Kevin O'Connell's offense.
Pitts is a target that can dictate coverages and, at his best, stretch the field vertically both up the seams and outside the numbers. His versatility has everyone excited to see what Pitts can do in an offense where he can line up virtually anywhere in the offense.
As Robinson said, "the sky's the limit for what kind of season [Pitts] can have."
