Saints at Falcons: Kyle Pitts Injury Problem? Atlanta Signs New TE

Falcons coach Arthur Smith doesn’t sound optimistic when discussing Kyle Pitts

Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts set the franchise record for receiving yards in a season by a rookie on Sunday in a loss to the Buffalo Bills. His 69 yards against Buffalo gave him 1,018 for the season, breaking the previous mark of 959 set by Julio Jones.

The record breaker for Kyle Pitts. He’s broken Julio Jones franchise rookie record for receiving yards. No asterisk here, he did it in 16 games. pic.twitter.com/ntpPV0zSnK

— Atlanta Falcons on SI (@FalconsSI) January 2, 2022

It wasn't all good news for Pitts, though. Shortly after his record-breaking catch, Pitts pulled up lame with a hamstring injury. He tried to give it a go in the second half, but he was clearly not fit, left and didn't return early in the third quarter.

Asked to give an update on Pitts, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith us starting this week of work not sounding overly optimistic.

"Probably not going to get a lot of clarity," said Smith. "We’ll just see how the week goes."

In part in conjunction with this issue, Atlanta is signing Parker Hesse - called up from the practice squad last week, leading to him playing about half the snaps in Buffalo - to the regular roster. Atlanta also has Lee Smith at tight end, but Hayden Hurst was put on the COVID list last week.

Pitts has the all-time rookie tight end receiving record in his sights. Mike Ditka had 1,076 yards in a 14-game season in 1961. Pitts needs just 58 yards to match Ditka's 60-year old record.

Smith isn't interested in records, and he credits the rookie for not being bothered about them either.

"He’s going to come in and say, how would he help us win," said Smith when asked how he'd respond if Pitts would push to play to get the record.

"Those things are nice," said Smith. "I’m not disregarding those things, those stats, but the only stat that matters is can we go out there and beat the Saints."

"That's kind of that's why we like Kyle. He wants to help the team win. That's your goal as a football player and a football coach."

The Falcons game against the Saints has been moved to 4:25 p.m. on Sunday. Atlanta opens as a 4.5-point underdog to the Saints despite their 27-25 win in New Orleans in November.

Losing Pitts would be a huge blow blow to Atlanta's chances of playing spoiler against the 8-8 Saints who are still fighting for a playoff spot.