Falcons' Kyle Pitts 'Productive' Camp Leading to Return vs. Panthers

Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts is poised for a bounce-back year.

The Atlanta Falcons are well aware of what they have in tight end Kyle Pitts and are thrilled that they'll have him on the field for their Week 1 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.  

Based on training camp reports and murmurs from around the team, they have been cautiously ushering Pitts into everything as they want to ensure he is able to regain his explosiveness. Having the freak athlete ready and feeling good is their biggest priority, which is something that may take some time while coming back from a knee injury. 

When Falcons head coach Arthur Smith spoke to the media about Pitts' return and how ready he has been, he expressed that while Pitts was doing well during camp it is hard to fully be ready without playing all the time.

“He’s had a productive camp," Smith said. "There are a lot of things that when you’re coming off of injury – it’s the same thing with TQ. Again, as you’re trying to build the entire team up, but individually, as guys are getting ready for Week 1, unless you played every snap in the preseason, I don’t know many people that are going to be truly, 100 percent ready for 65 snaps. That’s always the name of the game. There’s a fine line there, and there’s a lot that goes into Week 1, but everything that we’ve done to try to build up to this point, we feel good about where we’re at. Like I said, I think we’ve had a productive camp.”

Pitts and the Falcons are set to take on Carolina on Sunday in Atlanta and are currently viewed as the favorites, which means they are expected to hand No. 1 pick Bryce Young his first loss of his young career.