Former Florida tight end Kyle Pitts is expected to take the NFL by storm. The fourth overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft is already the highest-paid tight end in the league in terms of guaranteed money, and he hasn’t even played in his first game yet.
Pitts’ impact in the preseason was limited. He only appeared in the final game and made just one catch on a short route, which he took upfield for a solid gain. Still, his body of work at Florida was enough for Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback’s Mitch Goldich to pick Pitts to win rookie of the year on offense, alongside Kwity Paye on defense.
Offensive rookie of the year is generally an award reserved for quarterbacks and running backs. The last pass-catcher to win it was Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014, and no tight end has ever won it since the award’s inception in 1967.
Many think Pitts will join the ranks of the game’s elite tight ends sooner rather than later, and that’s certainly what Atlanta had in mind when it invested a top-five pick in him. He has a lot to prove in Year 1, especially on a Falcons offense looking for someone to replace the production of recently traded Julio Jones.
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