Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts has a positive fantasy football outlook in 2024. With new quarterback Kirk Cousins throwing him the ball, this will be a massive upgrade.
If you’re looking for fantasy team names utilizing his likeness, there’s always one like PittsCoin and Pitts & Giggles that you could use.
Here, I’ll examine Pitts’s value with his new QB and gauge whether or not he’s a good pick.
Kyle Pitts’ Fantasy Profile for the 2024 NFL Season
Pitts could be a target if you’re looking to utilize a fantasy football strategy where you wait a bit on a tight end.
According to Orlando D. Ledbetter of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Falcons are planning to play Pitts at both wide receiver and tight end, which should help him get some unique looks.
According to TruMedia, Pitts was most effective on second down, catching 20 passes on 28 targets for 309 yards and two scores and averaging 15.4 yards per catch. Still, Pitts has been barely used since he landed with the Falcons.
In three seasons, he’s racked up just 149 catches for 2,049 yards and six touchdowns. Of that, 68 receptions and 1,026 yards came as a rookie, so it’s been a major slump over the past two seasons.
Many things could’ve contributed to this, such as a run-first head coach like Arthur Smith and poor quarterback play from Desmond Ridder in 2023.
Now, Pitts will be in an offense headed by former Los Angeles Rams pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson.
While Pitts will have Cousins throwing him the ball, Cousins is coming off a torn Achilles, which he suffered mid-2023, so it remains to be seen how he’ll recover from that.
Over his career, Cousins has a 73.5% completion percentage when attempting passes to tight ends (820 of 1,115) and has 61 touchdowns, so things should bode well for Pitts.
Before coming to the Falcons, Cousins was with the Minnesota Vikings, where tight end T.J. Hockenson was a favorite target of his. In 2022, after Hockenson came over from Detroit, he caught 60 balls on 86 targets for 519 yards and three touchdowns across just 10 games; Hockenson started in only seven of them.
The Falcons have a Week 12 bye week.
Is Pitts a Good Fantasy Pick?
Going as TE7 and No. 61 overall, Pitts is an excellent pick. He’s going just ahead of Evan Engram, who could be a reception machine once again in 2024, but after that, every tight end has question marks.
Not to say Pitts doesn’t, but if Cousins is good to go, I trust in his ability and the coaching staff to get Pitts the ball.
I expect him to finish closer to stats equal to his 2022 and 2023 numbers combined: 80+ catches, 1,000+ yards, and a handful of touchdowns.