NFL.com Adds Atlanta Falcons TE Kyle Pitts to Make-or-Break List

Atlanta Falcons fans are probably tired of hearing that this is the year for mercurial tight end Kyle Pitts, but the 24-year-old former No. 4 overall pick has the type of talent that still remains tantalizing. 

NFL analyst Nick Shook of NFL.com is another pundit who hasn’t quite given up on Pitts, but is running out of patience adding him to his list of make-or-break players for 2025.

“Fantasy owners know Pitts' paradox all too well. The uber-athletic tight end began his career with great expectations, posting a 1,000-yard rookie season. However, he’s tallied just 128 catches for 1,625 yards and nine touchdowns combined in the three seasons since,” wrote Shook on NFL.com. “He's in the final year of his rookie deal, with a very uncertain future ahead of him. Pitts has watched other first-round talents at his position thrive for other clubs, and while he's been dealt a somewhat-unfair hand with Atlanta's revolving door at quarterback, the time is now to prove he's worth keeping around beyond 2025.” 

While OTAs would have offered some nice opportunities for Pitts to get more acclimatized with new starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr., an untimely injury meant Pitts wasn’t involved. Penix stated at OTAs that he and Pitts have been working together in the offseason, but they weren’t together on the field at Flowery Branch last week.  

History tells us that make-or-break seasons can often bring out the very best in a previously struggling player. Penix will be Pitts’s fifth opening day quarterback in his five seasons in Atlanta. Which brings us back to the wisdom of taking a tight end with an aging, expensive Matt Ryan, no succession plan, and one of the league’s worst defenses. But that’s ancient history. 

With a high-draft choice and $30 million already invested, Pitts’s $11-million guaranteed salary this season is a relatively cheap gamble for general manager Terry Fontenot and the Falcons. 

If Pitts hits, they have the franchise tag in their deck in order to make him play on another one-year deal, or they have a tradeable asset. If he misses, it only costs them another $11 million. 

The Falcons have enough weapons on offense that they don’t need Pitts to be a success in order to have a successful season.

But it sure would make it a lot more likely.