The Atlanta Falcons have made a name for themselves as a team that doesn't get the ball in the hands of their best players. These past two years have seen the talents of Kyle Pitts, Drake London, and occasionally Bijan Robinson, wasted.
Nevertheless, a new coaching staff is walking in the door with a clear emphasis on getting the ball in the hands of the three top-ten picks.
Zac Robinson will bring a new style of offense that puts a bigger focus on passing the ball. Everyone in the organization made it clear from day one that they were going to focus on the quarterback position and boy did they ever. Kirk Cousins was the biggest signing of the year and is expected to be the key to the previously-locked talents of the three playmakers.
Who will benefit the most from the addition of Kirk Cousins?
Kyle Pitts became the highest-draft tight end in NFL history in 2021. Drake London was the highest-drafted wide receiver in 2022. Bijan Robinson was the highest-drafted running back in 2023 since Saquon Barkley. Those three make for a talented trio but were often underutilized due to poor quarterback play.
That shouldn't be a problem anymore. Kirk Cousins is an established veteran who will produce, as long as he fully recovers.
Each of the three talented playmakers is going to benefit from having a franchise quarterback. The two pass catchers will see more accurate passes headed their direction while the running back will see fewer defenders in the box and more accurate passes when being used as a receiver.
Out of those three, Kyle Pitts stands out as the player who will take the biggest leap forward in 2024.
When looking through Kirk Cousins' career, tight ends have routinely gone over 600 yards. Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis with Washington and Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Conklin, and T.J. Hockenson with Minnesota.
Each of those players are all great in their own right, especially Hockenson, but none has the pure talent of the highest-drafted tight end, Kyle Pitts.
The simple fact that the new Falcons QB got Vernon Davis, who was on the downward slope of his career, over 600 yards should get you excited for what we could see in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2024.
There is also the fact that we started to see a healthy Pitts late last season. It was obvious for much of last season that the tight end was still trying to get confidence back in his knee. He wasn't making hard cuts like we saw before but he started to show definition in his routes late in the season.
I guarantee that Kyle Pitts is heading into a special bounce-back season thanks to the addition of an accurate QB.