This boundary rep against Alabama cornerback Patrick Surtain II shows a target doing everything right, and getting nothing in return from the guy throwing him the ball.
.@mattalkire — I mean… Pitts does everything right here against Surtain. Ev-e-ry-thing. You can't create an opening any better than this. But Trask is out there throwing five-pound blocks of cheese, so *sad trombone*. pic.twitter.com/aZemppvb76
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 25, 2021
And here, on a slant to Pitts, Trask throws the quick pass a hair late, leaving Pitts in Surtain’s grasp when an anticipation throw would have likely presented a better opening for yards after the catch. Because Pitts had Surtain muttering to himself off the line with his outstanding leverage and movement.
This deep incompletion is also not ideal. We often talk about quarterbacks throwing their receivers open; Trask has the unfortunate ability to throw his receivers closed with delayed throws in which he fails to take advantage of the openings Pitts creates. As a result, Pitts finds himself with too much traffic around him than he should have. You take the inevitable, maddening hitch out of Trask’s delivery, and maybe we have something here.
When Trask does throw with anticipation, giving Pitts an opportunity to create in the timing of the route, you get special stuff like this:
Sadly, these throws didn’t happen as often as they should have. Here we have yet another hitch, yet another late throw, and yet another missed opportunity.
Now, if you give Pitts a Matt Ryan or even a Jalen Hurts, you have that next-level weapon at the next level, further accentuated by a quarterback who can take Pitts’ athletic gifts and use them to work any defense into a state of exhaustion. Any NFL quarterback with league-average abilities to throw their guys open will unlock potential from Pitts we have not yet seen.
So, yes… Kyle Pitts should be even better in the NFL than he was in college. Scary, but true.