Evaluating Whether Giants Should Trade for Pitts

The New York Giants will enter the 2025 season with one of the league’s weakest tight end rooms. That isn’t necessarily an indictment of second-year tight end Theo Johnson’s potential or Chris Manhertz’s effectiveness as a blocker. But with little proven talent in the passing game, it is among the team’s biggest questions.

That lends itself to speculation when high-profile targets become available at that position. Recently, the rumor mill has revolved around Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts.

As he enters a contract year, now three seasons removed from his lone 1,000-yard season, a change of scenery feels necessary. Some feel that New York is primed to provide that pivot.

The Giants shouldn’t trade for the 2021 first-round tight end, though, despite the weakness on the depth chart.

“Are the Giants in a position to pay for immediate help? They may be short on salary cap space, but Pitts' appeal, at age 24, is that he could also stick around for the long term,” Cody Benjamin wrote for CBS Sports. “Head coach Brian Daboll would surely be OK pairing the big man with Malik Nabers, giving Russell Wilson an added safety valve for an offense sorely lacking secondary playmakers over the last few years. Assuming this link-up would extend beyond 2025, Pitts' arrival would also bode well for Jaxson Dart, the presumptive quarterback of the future.”

Cap implications aside, New York isn’t a fit for Pitts. For one, Pitts is among 14 tight ends set to make over $10 million in 2025. There’s a decent argument that he’s worse than all of them, along with a few more on rookie deals. If the Giants believe Johnson is taking any type of significant leap in the coming months, then they inherently believe he’ll be better than Pitts, anyway.

In Daboll’s offense, Pitts profiles as a rotational player, too. Pitts is a receiver in a tight end’s frame, often playing in the slot and rarely blocking successfully. He’s supposed to be able to stretch the field, sure, but is he doing that at the expense of receiver Wan’Dale Robinson in the slot?

The best version of Pitts isn’t as a safety valve. It’s as a downfield threat operating as a receiver. That makes it awfully hard to coexist with Johnson, who the regime clearly likes, and it would take away from the versatility that Johnson’s blocking flashes allow New York to tap into.

Between injuries and inconsistencies, Pitts has descended into disappointment. There’s a world in which he blossoms for another team, but neither the Giants’ scheme nor timeline suggests that jump will come in East Rutherford.