Kevin Stefanski runs Atlanta's offense now, with Tommy Rees calling plays, and the honest answer from camp is that nobody has said definitively whether Pitts lines up in-line the way Stefanski's tight ends historically have or stays flexed out wide like he's been the last two seasons. What isn't in question is the opportunity: Stefanski has said publicly he covets strong tight end play, and the front office backed that up by finally signing Pitts to the extension that had hung over every year of his rookie deal. The quarterback picture is murkier. Tua Tagovailoa is taking the reps right now while Michael Penix Jr. works back from a knee that hasn't let him practice in full, and Pitts is the guy building rapport with whoever wins that job.
Watch him for more than a series and the appeal is obvious: he's a 6-foot-6 frame that moves like a receiver, and defenses still don't have a clean answer for putting a linebacker on him down the seam or a safety on him in a slot alignment. Atlanta leaned on exactly that late last season, when Drake London missed time and Pitts turned into the primary answer in the passing game over the final stretch, catching nearly everything thrown his way and finishing the year with a receptions total that ranked inside the league's top 10. That stretch is the version of Pitts fantasy managers are banking on repeating over a full season instead of six games.
The counter is that stretch happened because someone else got hurt. Pitts still isn't the guy Atlanta trusts to finish drives — his touchdown total stayed modest even during his best run, and if Rees leans on Bijan Robinson near the goal line the way Arthur Smith did, Pitts keeps racking up catches without racking up scores. A scheme that asks more of him as an in-line blocker also caps the routes he runs, and a rookie gadget piece like Zachariah Branch complicates target competition rather than clearing it.
Sam LaPorta is the name worth measuring him against. LaPorta has the healthier quarterback situation — Jared Goff has said outright he needs to find ways to get him the ball — but LaPorta is playing on the last year of his rookie deal with a back that cost him half of last season, no long-term security yet in hand. Pitts just got paid like a top-three tight end and plays in an offense that's telling him, out loud, that he's the focal point. Take the file that's already been through injury and stayed intact over the one still proving it can.
