Could the New England Patriots be the trade destination for Falcons Pro Bowler Kyle Pitts?

AtoZ Sports

Kyle Crabbs speculates on trade rumors surrounding Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts and discusses how a trade to the New England Patriots could be perfect for all parties involved.

Transcript

00:002025 is the summer of tight end trade rumors and the latest name up is Atlanta's Kyle Pitts.

00:09Kyle Krause with A to Z Sports and last week brought two Pro Bowl tight ends into the spotlight

00:14as potential trade targets for teams across the league. First up was Jonu Smith of the Miami

00:21Dolphins who was tied to trade negotiations with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday.

00:26That move would reunite Jonu Smith with his former coach Arthur Smith who's the offensive coordinator

00:32now in Pittsburgh but Arthur Smith's other star tight end Kyle Pitts came up on Friday as a player

00:40that teams might be able to tap into and acquire if they were willing to part with a day two picking

00:46compensation. That report came courtesy of Jordan Schultz and with the calendar now turning to June

00:53it's a good time to look and see who has the cap space to potentially onboard Kyle Pitts's fifth year

00:58option which is a fully guaranteed 10.878 million dollars for 2025. Now if you're willing to part

01:06with a day two pick to bring Pitts into the picture you may want to consider a long-term deal as well

01:12so that might knock down teams that have the cap space but recently drafted a tight end of their own

01:18like the New York Jets who are in the top five in current salary cap space or perhaps you have a star

01:24tight end at the position that you just renegotiated a market reset contract to like the San Francisco 49ers

01:30but when you look at the teams in the top 10 of available cap space Pittsburgh is one of the teams

01:36that could make some sense for Kyle Pitts. Now they were only associated and affiliated with Jonu Smith

01:42but they have an extra third round draft pick courtesy of the trade of George Pickens to the

01:48Dallas Cowboys. They're in the top 10 in salary cap space so they could very easily onboard that

01:54additional salary cap commitment for Pitts but they have Pratt-Friermuth under contract on a long-term

02:00deal and this team is still playing the waiting game to try to land Aaron Rodgers at the quarterback

02:05position. The low-hanging fruit however is northeast of Pittsburgh. It's the New England Patriots who have

02:11been desperate to land upgrades at pass catcher for their young quarterback Drake May. They made

02:18overtures to Chris Godwin reportedly willing to pay him significantly more than what he took to stay

02:24in Tampa Bay and they've paying Stefan Diggs who has already found himself in a little bit of hot water

02:30for off-the-field behavior in the past week. The Patriots do have Hunter Henry on a contract with the team

02:38but the Patriots have 65 plus million dollars in cap space. They have each of their own picks in the

02:44first, second, and third round of next year's NFL draft but they also have two fourth round picks

02:49courtesy of a draft day trade which could give them a little bit of wiggle room if they wanted to make

02:55the splash. There's a completely separate conversation about the kind of scheme, fit, usage, and role for

03:02Kyle Pitts that any team that looks to not only acquire him but pay him a long-term contract to

03:08justify the draft pick would need to be able to provide. Of all the teams that could possibly make

03:14the splash, the Patriots have the right mix of urgency looking at having Drake May own a rookie

03:21contract and trying to close the gap with the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East, cap space, surplus draft

03:27capital, and the coach who has the experience with working with flex tight ends and inline players

03:33who maybe are better pass catchers than they are receivers. The question is how motivated are the

03:38Patriots to make that kind of splash play happen? If it's anybody, I'd be willing to bet the Patriots

03:46would be at the top of the list.

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