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Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts is a little banged up ahead of Sunday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but head coach Raheem Morris isn’t too concerned.
Morris told reporters on Wednesday that Pitts is dealing with a hamstring injury but downplayed the severity, saying, “Just trying to be transparent about all that stuff. … It really hasn’t affected him too much.”
Morris added that Pitts will be a limited participant in Wednesday’s practice but didn’t reveal his official status for Sunday’s matchup against the Steelers.
Pitts appeared in all 17 games during the 2023 campaign but had a disappointing year with 53 catches for 667 yards and three touchdowns. After producing 1,026 yards as a rookie in 2021, the Florida product has not produced at the level expected of him when the Falcons selected him with the No. 4 pick in the NFL draft.
Atlanta is hoping that the addition of veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins will help unleash Pitts’ full potential. Team reporter Tori McElhaney picked Pitts to benefit the most from having Cousins under center over running back Bijan Robinson and receiver Drake London.
“All three will benefit, in that I have no doubt. It’s in Pitts, though, that I think we will see the greatest impact early on,” McElhaney stated. “We saw what a healthy Pitts could do with an accurate, veteran quarterback in Matt Ryan. We saw what he could do when he wasn’t [100 percent] full-go with a quarterback who wasn’t as accurate. Now, Pitts is healthy again, with a pep in his step and a quarterback who has a [66.9 percent] completion rate throughout his 12 seasons in the league.”
The Falcons are hoping to end a six-year playoff drought, so keeping Pitts healthy will go a long way toward helping them reach the postseason this year.
