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TE Kyle Pitts, ATL (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter JohnnyU
- Start date
Twenty-Four Eighty-Four
Footballguy
I bet a lot of experts (and others) will do the same when they seem him start to show signs of stardom, which could be right away. I think it's a bit premature for it right now.barackdhouse said:
barackdhouse
Footballguy
It is crazy in terms of what to expect production wise, but in terms of market value, right now he really is probably the #1 TE asset. You could get more in return for him than anyone right now. And Waller and Hockenson are almost untouchable right now. Kittle gets moved a lot and Kelce is too old for his price so there is no market for him. Andrews gets moved a lot and is generally viewed below those guys even though I think he should be closer. The problem is those other guys are likely to hold their value a year from now whereas Pitts value is still built on shine.
barackdhouse
Footballguy
He will need to adopt a puppy while autographing a kids jersey in midair of a toe tapping TD that clinches the division to live up to the hype. 4th overall is going to get opportunities.
Andy Dufresne
Footballguy
FreeBaGeL
Footballguy
To be fair he did put up just under 1000 yards and 8 TDs as a rookie which if I'm not mistaken would be the 2nd best rookie TE season ever.Julio Jones didn't have a Julio Jones year as a rookie.
But yes, even that is a supreme longshot for Pitts as a rookie. If he somehow hits it he will be untouchable though.
TVT 0 N S T A
Footballguy
As long as FFB keeps him @ TE position - I don't give a s### if he plays quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver. More opps the better.
jtd13
Footballguy
*Supreme* longshot? I'd call it a minor upset if Pitts hit 1000 yards.
I see a lot of projections that have him around 800-900 (e.g. JJ Zachariason, PFF, Mike Clay). I know it sounds crazy to call the best rookie year since at least Shockey the median outcome, but the targets+talent+target quality are all there. It wouldn't be that crazy to me if he exceeded those projections by 100-200 yards.
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JohnnyU
Footballguy
Twenty-Four Eighty-Four
Footballguy
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jtd13
Footballguy
Seems unlikely to me that he'll be any more successful than someone like Jimmy Graham was in that appeal case. Pitts just went to the TE camp, so I think it's safe to say he considers himself a TE, anyway.
Twenty-Four Eighty-Four
Footballguy
You may be correct with the unbolded part, I don't recall how those grievances ended up. As far as the bolded, he may think of himself as a TE now, but if they try to franchise tag him when that time comes and he thinks he deserves WR money, he'll change his tune.
JohnnyU
Footballguy
It probably won't matter what he thinks. They will play him enough at the TE position to justify keeping him at TE, at least through his rookie contract.
jtd13
Footballguy
I only remember the Graham case. But iirc part of the reason they ruled in favor of the saints was that Graham called himself a TE and met with the TE position group for the saints.
I'm not a lawyer so whatever I say is just some guy's opinion. I'm just looking at it as a low probability since it's been tried and failed.
jtd13
Footballguy
And really, if he's a 6'6 240lb freak athlete who went 4th in the draft and gets used so much as a WR that the falcons aren't allowed to pay him like a TE, I still don't see a big problem. Obviously getting used like a WR and being labeled a TE is the best case, but he'd still be plenty valuable as a WR.
Twenty-Four Eighty-Four
Footballguy
I hear you. I guess I didn't mean to say "what he thinks", it's more about the % of snaps played as a TE. But as others pointed out, it seems Graham tried that and failed.
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Complete list of rookie Tight Ends who exceeded 900 yards in a season:
Mike Ditka, 1961
(in the last 60 NFL seasons, five other players topped 700 yards; only five more topped 600 yards)
Complete list of rookie Tight Ends who had double digit Touchdowns in a season:
Mike Ditka, 1961
Rob Gronkowski, 2010
In the last 32 seasons, the only TE1s (top 12) were Shockey 2002, Gronk 2010, Engram 2017.
He is such a can’t miss prospect. With Julio gone I think he has a great chance to have a historic season.
Mike Ditka, 1961
(in the last 60 NFL seasons, five other players topped 700 yards; only five more topped 600 yards)
Complete list of rookie Tight Ends who had double digit Touchdowns in a season:
Mike Ditka, 1961
Rob Gronkowski, 2010
In the last 32 seasons, the only TE1s (top 12) were Shockey 2002, Gronk 2010, Engram 2017.
He is such a can’t miss prospect. With Julio gone I think he has a great chance to have a historic season.
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Long odds, but I’m right there with you.
DropKick
Footballguy
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
It does make me wonder how Ditka would have done in his rookie season against a defense made up entirely of mini-Ditkas. Probably 1 catch for 1 yard & 1 TD, because that’s the game Ditka was also at QB.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Ditka, indirectly, hooked me on the game for life. All because of one play I read about in a book called Great Paas Receivers of the NFL. I was like 7 or 8, the play happened 5-6 years before, and it would be another 45 years or so before I actually saw it.
Dang it…can’t find it on YouTube today.
The way Dave Anderson wrote it, ‘twas like King Kong caught a short pass on 3rd and long but just refused to go down. Should have been a punt, Ditka broke 7 or 8 tackles to gain 50 yards to set up the tying FG. Yeah, for a tie. In a meaningless game for a losing team. Because Ditka only knew how to play one way.
Iron Mike was Gronk 45+ a years before Gronk. Watch his highlights. It’s unreal how many times guys just bounced off him, he just trucks them likes he’s playing against Pop Warner players.
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Pretty sure I saw that play you described on an ESPN Ditka special. So good. he was the definition of a hard-nosed player.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
I’d know it if I saw it…black & white film, might have been against Philly. It might have been “only” 5-6 broken tackles, he breaks in the clear but he gets caught from behind, lays out spreadeagled bc he’s totally gassed.
This game. My memory is sketch - it was the championship season (1963), they were 9-1, at the Steelers, 63 yard play to setup a last second tying FG.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
I agree until it comes down to when they want to resign him after 4 or 5 years. If he's close to as good as people think and he is being used as much as a WR as Waller then I think he very well could say to the Falcons and all other NFL teams, "I am a WR, I want WR money as well as WR designation in my contract". I suppose Atlanta could just say, "screw you we will just franchise you twice". That doesn't seem like how you should treat a star of your team in his prime though.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Oh wow…never knew WHY it’s so hard to find the footage.
"Camelot" and "The New Frontier" were over. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the nation's 35th President, had been gunned down in Dallas roughly 48 hours before the Bears and Steelers would begin trading punches.
There is an irony here that must be addressed. "The play" turned in by Ditka, so stellar - so ferocious, went basically unseen and, for that reason, unheard. CBS chose not to show the game as all three major networks logically chose to follow the aftermath of the Kennedy tragedy. Chicago's WGN, the Bears' flagship station, also elected to stay with the evolving stories, updates and rumors emerging out of Dallas.
Bill Wade took the center snap and dropped back to throw. It was clear that Mike was not his primary option. But as Wade's pocket began to collapse, he did throw to Ditka in the flat. History was about to be made. Ditka immediately shrugged off two would-be Steelers tacklers. A third, a fourth, and a fifth would all fail to bring Iron Mike down. A sixth tried in vain.
Finally, after a play that covered 63 yards, Ditka fell to the turf where he lay prone, his chest heaving with exhaustion.
Shortly after Ditka's catch and run, Roger Leclerc boomed an 18 yard field goal to salvage a tie for the Bears, 17-17.
One man. One play. Together they defined the resolve of the 1963 Chicago Bears.
_____________
Loved the punt, pass & kick series the league put out in the late 60s / early 70s.
"Camelot" and "The New Frontier" were over. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the nation's 35th President, had been gunned down in Dallas roughly 48 hours before the Bears and Steelers would begin trading punches.
There is an irony here that must be addressed. "The play" turned in by Ditka, so stellar - so ferocious, went basically unseen and, for that reason, unheard. CBS chose not to show the game as all three major networks logically chose to follow the aftermath of the Kennedy tragedy. Chicago's WGN, the Bears' flagship station, also elected to stay with the evolving stories, updates and rumors emerging out of Dallas.
Bill Wade took the center snap and dropped back to throw. It was clear that Mike was not his primary option. But as Wade's pocket began to collapse, he did throw to Ditka in the flat. History was about to be made. Ditka immediately shrugged off two would-be Steelers tacklers. A third, a fourth, and a fifth would all fail to bring Iron Mike down. A sixth tried in vain.
Finally, after a play that covered 63 yards, Ditka fell to the turf where he lay prone, his chest heaving with exhaustion.
Shortly after Ditka's catch and run, Roger Leclerc boomed an 18 yard field goal to salvage a tie for the Bears, 17-17.
One man. One play. Together they defined the resolve of the 1963 Chicago Bears.
_____________
Loved the punt, pass & kick series the league put out in the late 60s / early 70s.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Anyway, hoping Pitts has many memorable plays in his future. Great talent & enormous potential. I’m gonna pass in redraft this year but hopefully he lives up to his considerable hype.
Ilov80s
Footballguy
Can't blame them for that. Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered about noon Eastern time on that day. Probably right about the time the Bears-Steelers game was getting ready to start.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
I was just a toddler but I have read often it was very controversial the NFL went ahead and played the games. Often noted as one of the few missteps Pete Rozelle had as Commissioner.
Thanksgiving must have sucked that year, like the way it was so gloomy and nobody laughed or told jokes for weeks after 9/11.
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
ETA:
My dad was young (27) manufacturing entrepreneur then, and hauled his own 18-wheeler loads until he started making good money around ‘67. On the day JFK was shot he had taken a load down to SW Michigan and been on the road all day. Walked into a busy truckstop diner around 6pm, and the place was half full but all you heard was silverware tinkling. My old man was an outgoing, gregarious storyteller, so he says to his waitress in a loud voice “Somebody die around here?”
Practically the whole restaurant yelled at him. “HAVEN’T YOU HEARD??!”
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barackdhouse
Footballguy
BobbyLayne
Footballguy
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Also of note, that Ditka play on the top 100 was #69
nice
nice
barackdhouse
Footballguy
Yeah well it's pretty dang good. I forget what their top 10 was and I'm sure most of them are ranked based on nostalgic value more than pure football value. But for me the #1 football play I have ever seen is hands down James Harrison's pick 6 against the Cardinals and Kurt Warner before halftime.
https://youtu.be/uYtxoNgvIFI
This thing had it as #2 I don't know what they're calling #1 probably the stupid immaculate reception.
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Steve Young’s TD/Belly Flop has to be in the list too - likely bottom 15%
Marshawn Lynch’s beast mode TD gotta be in there too.
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Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
Ya love to see it. And is it a forced perspective thing, or does Pitts make Kelce look like a normal-sized human?
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
If he hits these projections as a rookie, I will be very pleased. Especially if the TDs are in the 8+ range.Faust said:
Hot Sauce Guy
Footballguy
No, it’s not. He’s a rookie.
Having realistic expectations means tempering against unrealistic disappointment like “Jimmy Graham in his prime”.
