In an offseason full of questions, the Atlanta Falcons are already innately familiar with one: is this the year tight end Kyle Pitts breaks out?
But there's often been another question associated with Pitts this offseason: if he does break out in 2025, will it be with the Falcons?
The 24-year-old Pitts is entering his fifth season in Atlanta -- the last of his rookie contract plus the option that came with his status as a first-round pick in 2021.
Last season, Pitts caught 47 passes for 602 yards and four touchdowns. He set a new career high in touchdowns, but he saw fewer targets (74) than he did in 2023 (90) and subsequently had fewer receptions and receiving yards.
Now three years removed from his 1,026-yard rookie season, Pitts has seemingly hit a wall. His future in Atlanta is uncertain as a result -- but Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris each implied they expect Pitts to be on the team's roster in 2025.
“He’s always going to have the added pressure because of where he was drafted,” Morris said Feb. 25 at the NFL combine in Indianapolis. “We want to get the young man out there being the best version of himself and we will always make the right decision for the Falcons in order to get him going.
“We’ll have to figure those things out. He’s shown some spurts of greatness, and he’s shown some things that desire more. We’ll try to get the best out of him at all times. That’s our job as coaches.”
Pitts had a tale of two seasons in 2024.
After a slow first month to the year, Pitts starred in October. He made 21 receptions for 314 yards and caught a pair of touchdowns in the month-ending victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 27.
The problem, however, is Pitts roughly equaled that production in Atlanta's other 13 games combined.
From Weeks 1-4, Pitts caught eight passes for 105 yards and one touchdown. From Weeks 9-18, Pitts hauled in 18 passes for 183 yards and one touchdown. Across those 13 games, he totaled 26 receptions for 288 yards and two scores.
During the Falcons' final seven games, Pitts made only 13 catches for 117 yards and one touchdown on 25 targets. His touchdown was significant -- it marked rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s first as a professional and helped the Falcons force overtime against the Washington Commanders in Week 17 -- but he failed to eclipse 45 receiving yards in a game from Nov. 17 onward.
Penix said during Super Bowl week that whenever Pitts is open, the rising second-year passer needs to “find him and get him the ball.”
But Penix added Pitts needs to be confident in himself to reach his lofty ceiling. Fontenot believes Pitts has the talent, pedigree and recent flashes of brilliance to have a resurgent 2025 campaign -- and Atlanta is committed to seeing it through.
“Kyle is a really talented player,” Fontenot said. “You can make a highlight tape and see all the good things he’s done. Where we stand at this point, Kyle in his mind this offseason [is thinking], ‘I’m going to do everything I can do to make sure I’m effective and I’m helping this team win.’
“Just like any other player, we are pouring into our players and making sure we can do everything we can do. We believe Kyle is going to put everything he can into it to be the best player he can be for us, and we’re going to do the same.”
And so, despite Pitts being a trendy name thrown around in speculatory trade hypotheticals during the quiet period of the offseason, the Falcons seemingly have no intentions of trading the highest-drafted tight end in league history.
Whether it pays off -- or if Pitts walks next spring and leaves the Falcons with no compensation to show for it -- is merely another in a long line of questions facing Pitts and Atlanta entering next season.
