Kyle Pitts miscast by Falcons now a potential trade target

First, to his misuse ...

In 2024, Pitts was deployed more as a boundary receiver than as a position-less mismatch. His alignments were telling:

 • Out wide: 94 snaps

 • Slot alignment: 228 snaps

 • Tight alignment (inline, connected to OL): 113 snaps

And when you look at how often he actually got wide open (3+ yards of separation)  the issue becomes undeniable:

 • Out wide: 5 of 94 snaps → 5.3%

 • Slot: 21 of 228 snaps → 9.2%

 • Tight alignment: 10 of 113 snaps → 8.8%

And when Pitts did get open, here’s what happened:

 • Out wide: 4 of 5 targets → 80% completion

 • Slot: 17 of 21 targets → 81% completion

 • Tight alignment: 10 of 10 targets → 100% completion

The closer he was to the quarterback, the better the result. Faster reads. Cleaner spacing. More rhythm. More trust.

And in a league where pressure is coming up the middle faster than ever, it would for an offense to keep their unicorn closer to the quarterback right?  

Then there’s the route tree. In 2024, Pitts ran:

 • 177 out-breaking routes

 • 163 vertical routes

 • 95 in-breaking routes

*Data courtesy of NFL Pro*

So not only did Atlanta far too frequently isolate him against the opposing team’s CB1 or CB2, completely stripping away his matchup advantage — they parlayed that misuse by asking him to run the least quarterback-friendly routes in football. Out-breakers and verticals are the hardest throws to complete, especially when you're dealing with pressure through the middle and quarterback instability.

Just to be clear, it was more of the same years prior. So from our perspective, Kyle Pitts' subpar career thus far has every bit as much to do with his situation as his skillset. 

He is still a rare talent who was simply buried under poor deployment and a lack of understanding about his superpowers in the first place. 

Now lets zoom out and consider what happens if a front office actually recognizes this. Should the Cowboys really be interested? 

Of course.

Their tight end room still technically wide open long-term.

Jake Ferguson is in a contract year. Luke Schoonmaker is still trying to prove he wasn’t a bust. Brevyn Spann-Ford is trending in the right direction, but he’s still an undrafted free agent at the end of the day. And John Stephens Jr. can't seem to dodge the injury bug. 

The Cowboys are no stranger to betting on reclamation projects on rookie deals either — Kaiir Elam, Joe Milton and George Pickens all in this off-season alone. Trey Lance also comes to mind.

These are all young players. All with upside. All gambles on development.

So whenever Atlanta is done pretending like they're actually gonna get a second-round pick in exchange for Kyle Pitts, there’s a world where a George Pickens-like trade can be made.

And if Dallas makes the call and somehow makes the unlikely trade? All the Cowboys would have to do then with Kyle Pitts is use him properly.