Overreaction Monday: Kyle Pitts can’t fall back on Arthur Smith scapegoating anymore

When Kyle Pitts was coming out of college and heading into the NFL Draft, he was seen as a generational talent at the position. Pitts went for 43 catches, 770 yards and 12 touchdowns in just eight games during the shortened 2020 college season. The Florida tight end was named an All-American and finished 10th place in the Heisman voting.

He was supposed to transcend the future of tight ends in the NFL, moving towards a less traditional role as a fourth wide receiver option instead of the conventional, big and slow moving tight ends of the past. That's the exact reason that the Atlanta Falcons used a top five pick to select him in the 2021 NFL Draft.

But Pitts has done just about everything but excel in the NFL. In 48 NFL games, he's averaging less than 50 yards per game, and he's scored seven touchdowns in that span of time.

For a while, Falcons fans and Pitts believers have used a ton of different excuses for why Pitts is struggling so bad at the NFL level. Excuses have typically revolved around the offense not using him correctly with the finger being pointed at former Falcons head coach, Arthur Smith, more often than not.

The blame has often been pushed on his less-than-ideal quarterback situation, but the Falcons solved that problem this offseason.

Kyle Pitts is running out of excuses for his lack of production

Now that Arthur Smith has moved on, going to the Pittsburgh Steelers to be their offensive coordinator, Pitts is out of excuses to explain his lack of production.

Pitts has Kirk Cousins as his quarterback this season, making him the most talented quarterback that Pitts has worked with in his entire football career by quite a wide margin.

We're now four games into the season, with a new quarterback and a new offensive mind in charge, and Pitts still is struggling to produce. He's averaging a career low in receptions and receiving yards per game.

Pitts currently has a separation score of 0.000 against both man and zone coverages. He's not getting open and he's not getting targeted because of it. It has nothing to do with the quarterback or the offensive scheme at this point. Pitts simply isn't doing what he's supposed to do.

He finished the fourth game of the season with zero catches, marking the first time in his career that he was active for a game and didn't record a catch.

To make matters even worse for Falcons fans, Pitts was selected one pick before superstar wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase. Pitts is more of a wide receiver than a traditional tight end and Atlanta passed on a generation wide receiver to draft Pitts. Not a good look, Atlanta.