After being limited in practice all week, Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts has been ruled inactive for Week 6 against the San Francisco 49ers. He said on Oct. 12 he thought he would be ready to play by Sunday despite his limited participation in practice while the Falcons listed him as questionable two days ago.
Final update on Kyle Pitts + full list of inactives for Week 6 ⬇️
— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) October 16, 2022
Along with Pitts, Falcons tight end Anthony Firkser is also inactive, delivering another blow to Atlanta’s thin tight end depth. Yesterday, they called up MyCole Pruitt from the practice squad to fill in the hole Firkser left behind.
Outside of tight end, inside linebacker Mykal Walker, safety Erik Harris, offensive lineman Chuma Edoga, wide receiver Jared Bernhardt and outside linebacker Ade Ogundeji are also listed as inactive.
As for Pitts, the second-year tight end out of Florida has struggled along with the rest of the Falcons offense. That is partly due to the team’s cap situation, where it has the largest dead cap hit in NFL history. The biggest reason is the regression at the quarterback position going from Matt Ryan to Marcus Mariota. Pitts leads the league in off target rate at a whopping 32 percent.
Highest 'off-target' rates:
32% – Kyle Pitts
29% – Darnell Mooney
23% – Jahan Dotson
22% – DJ Moore, Nico Collins
21% – Drake London, Elijah Moore
19% – Davante Adams (this explains a lot 😡)
18% – Rashod Bateman, Dalton Schultz
17% – Jerry Jeudy, Darren Waller, Marquise Brown— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 12, 2022
The results across the board haven’t been spectacular for the Falcons, who are 23rd in the league in passing and 25th in total yards this season. However, Atlanta’s future isn’t completely marred by its quarterback play. First round pick Drake London has been a bright spot and looks like the perfect complement to Kyle Pitts and vice versa. As Atlanta appears to be a bottom feeder this year, they have a good chance at being able to select high in a loaded quarterback draft class next year.