A year ago around this time, Kyle Pitts was viewed as an obvious choice for Rookie of the Year. He was joining a stacked passing offense under a new head coach with a strong background on that side of the ball, and his skills were readily evident. It didn’t seem like a slam dunk—Trevor Lawrence went first overall to the Jaguars, and there were other intriguing players in that first round—but Pitts was viewed as a strong bet for a reason.
He finished the year as one of the finalists for the award—he was 24th in the NFL in receiving yards and put together plenty of highlights—but the Falcons traded away Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley was not available much of the year, and the offense bottomed out as Pitts found himself the focus of every defense’s attention.