With the fourth pick in the 2021 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons select Kyle Pitts, tight end, Florida.
Analysis: Football is a matchup game, and offensive coordinators try as hard as they can to create mismatches and then exploit them. A player like Pitts, with the ability to beat defensive backs and linebackers in man coverage, is ideal to fill that role. Even teams that have a tight end already on the roster, like the Philadelphia Eagles or the Detroit Lions, would be smart to consider Pitts. You can put him next to a Zach Ertz or a T.J. Hockenson and run a 12 personnel package that forces the defense to decide whether to use a base package, or a sub package. Either way the defense is wrong. If they go light, you can run behind the TE duo. If they go heavy, spread them out, put Pitts on the boundary and watch him run away from safeties or linebackers. It is a win-win for you as an offense.
Grade: A+. Pitts is the highest-drafted tight end in pro football history, and there are reasons for that. The specific fit with former Titans offensive coordinator and new Falcons head coach Arthur Smith is absolutely dead-on. Last season, the Titans had 14 touchdown passes and two interceptions with at least two tight ends on the field, and the combination of Pitts and Hayden Hurst should be absolutely incendiary.