I find Kyle Pitts to be a hard player to grade. He’s really talented, but they haven’t got him rolling yet. Last year, they didn’t even try to use him all that much – 28 catches for 356 yards and 2 TDs in 10 games. What the heck?
The Falcons, as a reminder, selected Pitts before JaMarr Chase. That hasn’t aged well (though I don’t think Chase would be considered a superstar had he played his last two seasons in Atlanta).
Pitts last year caught only 28 of the 59 passes thrown his way. That’s not all his fault. They were starting Marcus Mariota for most of the season, with more misfires than a typical quarterback. And Pitts is used differently than most tight ends, with more downfield routes. The 8-yard completions underneath, those are easier to complete than the big-play attempts down the sideline.
Nonetheless, 28 of 59 translates to less than 48 percent completions, and that had me looking through the numbers from past years. At pro-football-reference.com they’ve got target data going back to 1992. And in the 31 seasons represented, only five tight ends with at least 50 targets have finished with a lower catch rate than 2022 Kyle Pitts.
All tight ends under 51 percent are listed below. There’s not a lot of them. I took those players, then looked at how they performed in their next season. I see four that finished with top-10 numbers the next year (using PPR scoring). Rickey Dudley had two of those seasons, and I see him as similar to Pitts – a former top-10 overall pick who tended to be used as a downfield weapon rather than on short balls around the line of scrimmage.
Three other tight ends listed below finished with top-20 numbers in their next season – Mikhael Ricks, Marcedes Lewis and Ethan Horton.
| TIGHT ENDS WITH LOW CATCH RATES | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Pct | Next Year |
| 2002 | Mikhael Ricks, Det. | 68 | 27 | 339 | 3 | 39.7% | 37-434-2 |
| 2004 | Boo Williams, N.O. | 75 | 33 | 362 | 2 | 44.0% | 0-0-0 |
| 2011 | Marcedes Lewis, Jac. | 85 | 39 | 460 | 0 | 45.9% | 52-540-4 |
| 1998 | • Rickey Dudley, Oak. | 77 | 36 | 549 | 5 | 46.8% | 39-555-9 |
| 2006 | Bubba Franks, G.B. | 53 | 25 | 232 | 0 | 47.2% | 18-132-3 |
| 2022 | Kyle Pitts, Atl. | 59 | 28 | 356 | 2 | 47.5% | ?-?-? |
| 2007 | Kris Wilson, K.C. | 50 | 24 | 180 | 1 | 48.0% | 0-0-0 |
| 2017 | Stephen Anderson, Hou. | 52 | 25 | 342 | 1 | 48.1% | 0-0-0 |
| 2011 | Lance Kendricks, St.L. | 58 | 28 | 352 | 0 | 48.3% | 42-519-4 |
| 1992 | Ethan Horton, Oak. | 68 | 33 | 409 | 2 | 48.5% | 43-467-1 |
| 1996 | • Rickey Dudley, Oak. | 70 | 34 | 386 | 4 | 48.6% | 48-787-7 |
| 1995 | Kyle Brady, NYJ | 53 | 26 | 252 | 2 | 49.1% | 15-144-1 |
| 2018 | Ricky Seals-Jones, Ariz. | 69 | 34 | 343 | 1 | 49.3% | 14-229-4 |
| 2012 | Tony Scheffler, Det. | 85 | 42 | 504 | 1 | 49.4% | 7-82-0 |
| 1997 | Jamie Asher, Was. | 99 | 49 | 474 | 1 | 49.5% | 28-294-0 |
| 2020 | • Zach Ertz, Phil. | 72 | 36 | 335 | 1 | 50.0% | 74-763-5 |
| 2010 | Kevin Boss, NYG | 70 | 35 | 531 | 5 | 50.0% | 28-368-3 |
| 1996 | Jackie Harris, T.B. | 60 | 30 | 349 | 1 | 50.0% | 19-197-1 |
| 2015 | Jordan Cameron, Mia. | 70 | 35 | 386 | 3 | 50.0% | 8-60-1 |
| 2011 | • Greg Olsen, Car. | 89 | 45 | 540 | 5 | 50.6% | 69-843-5 |
| 1999 | Ben Coates, N.E. | 63 | 32 | 370 | 2 | 50.8% | 9-84-0 |
| 2003 | Todd Heap, Balt. | 112 | 57 | 693 | 3 | 50.9% | 27-303-3 |
—Ian Allan