In the Atlanta Falcons' come-from-behind win over the Buccaneers in Week 15, nobody will doubt that Kyle Pitts was the player of the game. While once again operating in Drake London's absence, Pitts turned in a career day, catching 11 passes for 166 yards and a career-high three touchdowns.
For a player who's an impending free agent, it's no secret that performance will help earn him a massive payday this offseason. But it's also proof that the Falcons were correct to remain steadfast in their belief in Pitts, with Raheem Morris saying it was their plan to force-feed the fifth-year tight end.
Falcons head coach Raheem Morris on tight end Kyle Pitts Sr.'s play: "It was the plan all along."
— Terrin Waack (@TerrinWaack) December 12, 2025
The Florida product was long heralded as a generational tight end prospect, but never lived up to expectations since the offense was never utilizing him correctly. Instead, we finally got to witness his breakout in real time under the bright lights, and many fans were waiting to see this player surface.
Kyle Pitts silenced a long list of doubters in Falcons' Week 15 upset win
And the timing for his breakout game couldn't have been any better. In most fantasy football leaues, Week 15 marks the start of the fantasy football playoffs, so for the select few who started the Florida product tonight, they were rewarded with a performance that exceeded their wildest expectations.
Making things even crazier is the fact that Pitts has two multi-touchdown games in his NFL career, and both of those came against the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium across the last two seasons. And his last 100-yard receiving game came back in December of 2021 in his rookie season.
Unfortunately, for as well as Pitts played, it also complicates things a lot. the 25-year-old has become a popular candidate to be franchise tagged should he not agree to a long-term extension, but it's now obvious that the Falcons cannot let him walk in free agency, or even hit the open market this March.
The former Mackey Award winner surpassed 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, but was struggling to recapture that spark. But since London went down and Kirk Cousins took over for Michael Penix Jr., he's become a more integral part of Atlanta's offensive game plan, especially in these last two games.
While impressive performance from Bijan Robinson certainly helped, no Falcon was more pivotal to the outcome than Pitts. He was always capable of turning in performances like this, and managed to prove the front office right since they never considered moving on from him despite what the rumor mill suggested.