The case for Kyle Pitts to the Miami Dolphins at No. 3 and what happened that allows it
.jpg "Florida tight end Kyle Pitts, left, catches a 5-yard pass for a touchdown in front of Towson safety S.J. Brown II during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, in Gainesville, Fla.")
The idea, initially, was easy to dismiss.
After all, the Miami Dolphins already have a skilled pass catching tight end in Mike Gesicki but badly need receivers.
So how could they possibly justify selecting UF tight end Kyle Pitts ahead of LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase or Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith with the third overall pick in April’s NFL Draft?
But the more you listen to NFL evaluators, it becomes easier and easier to make the case for Pitts at No. 3 — especially now that the Dolphins have addressed wide receiver in free agency by signing Will Fuller (53 catches, 879 yards, 8 touchdowns in 11 games last season). And Pitts is a pseudo-wide receiver in many ways.
As Mel Kiper Jr. has said on ESPN: “Stop thinking of Pitts as just a tight end. He’s in a different category than any player I can remember.”
The Fuller signing was liberating in the sense that the Dolphins are no longer necessarily compelled to take a wide receiver third. They still certainly might. But they won’t leave themselves in a mess at receiver if they do not, because they now have two clearly above-average receivers under contract (DeVante Parker, Fuller) and six decent ones (Preston Williams, Jakeem Grant, Albert Wilson, Allen Hurns, Lynn Bowden Jr., Robert Foster).
“I would take Pitts [over a receiver at No. 3],” a veteran AFC front-office executive told me, requesting anonymity. “He’s a special playmaker. Tremendous in the red zone. An offensive weapon.”
NFL Network lead draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, when asked about the Eagles at No. 6, made a convincing case for why he would select Pitts if both Pitts and Chase were surprisingly available at that spot. And remember that Philadelphia already has two skilled tight ends in Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.
“I would take Pitts; I think it’s a no-brainer,” Jeremiah said. “We’ve talked about how high the ceiling is with him. I think he can emerge as the best tight end in the National Football League. He has that type of dynamic ability.
“Ja’Marr Chase, I have the same grade with Pitts, but to me if you wanted to find a receiver, another receiver, I think you’ve got better options for some of those receivers in later rounds than you would at the tight end position. This Kyle Pitts is a rare dude, man. I would take him.
“I think you can make a strong case he’s the best player in the draft. I have him as the third-best player right now. I’m watching these corners with first-, second-, third-round draft grades in the SEC and they can’t cover the guy.”
And this point from Jeremiah about Pitts was particularly interesting: “I think if he was just in this draft as an X receiver, he’s a top-10 or -15 pick if you’ve never even watched him put his hand in the ground. At that size, to be able to get in and out like he does is pretty rare, to turn guys inside out. You watch [Kansas City All-Pro tight end] Travis Kelce and you’ll see Kelce run those pivot routes where he’s so efficient and doesn’t waste any steps.
“You see the same thing with Pitts, and then he has a bigger catch radius to go up over the top of people and make plays. To me it’s a matchup that’s going to be in your favor every time you line up. The defense can’t be right against him no matter what you do. You put big guys out there, he’s going to run away from them. You put small guys out there, he’s just going to pluck the ball off their heads. That to me is what makes him special.”
If the Dolphins were to select Pitts, they could trade Gesicki — who’s entering the final year of his contract — for a mid-round pick if they opt not to give him the type of big contract that agent Jimmy Sexton likely will seek. Gesicki can become an unrestricted free agent in a year.
That means the Dolphins essentially could replace Gesicki with a much cheaper player who’s considered a better player. (Nothing against Gesicki, who has developed into a top-10 receiving tight end with Miami. But Pitts is considered elite.)
And Jeremiah, speaking in general and not about the Dolphins specifically, cites another advantage for selecting an elite tight end over an elite receiver: the amount each would be paid at the end of rookie contracts in four years.
“The point that was made to me by someone in the league, they said, ‘we look at receivers and tight ends.’ Look at the franchise number and look at the difference in money. I think there’s a difference of like $6 million bucks,” Jeremiah said.
“So not only do you have a rare mismatch player that’s hard to find, once you get to the second contract he’s going to be extremely affordable compared to if you were going to take a receiver with that same pick. So you’re getting the same level of impact without having to pay that same level of cost. I think that could be something that could be a tiebreaker when you’re making that decision.”
Jeremiah’s point is correct; the franchise tag number for receivers this year is $15.9 million. For tight ends, it’s $9.6 million.
The Dolphins also could keep Gesicki and Pitts in this scenario — that could be a handful for defenses — but the question is whether it makes sense to invest significant cap space on a receiving tight end beginning in 2022 (Gesicki) if you have an exceptional far cheaper one on your roster (Pitts). A case could be made to flip Gesicki for a draft pick, but it’s not clear cut.
Jeremiah mentioned Gesicki, unprompted, about how Pitts and Gesicki can be used similarly.
“If you wanted to just primarily use [Pitts] as an X receiver, no problem, he could do that right now and be really good at it,” Jeremiah said. “Sometimes I think it’s kind of funny. Like I’d have to look it up, but like Gesicki with the Dolphins.
“He still has TE next to his name. I don’t know how many times he was attached last year, but you might be able to count them on two hands. He was always detached. To me I would be trying to use this kid that way, just flex him out and use him. Then some games you want to split him out, some games you want to use him in the slot. You can get him in line.
“If you get [opposing defenses] to go small, that is what is so great about him; you get them to go small, he can hold his own and shield guys off as a run blocker. I would much rather be throwing him the ball.”
Pitts, who stands 6-6 and 246 pounds, is arguably the best receiving tight end in the draft in years; he caught 43 passes for 770 yards (17.9 average) and 12 touchdowns in eight games.
But what about Pitts as a blocker?
“As a blocker, when you watched him in 2019 I thought he was willing, but I thought he was really flimsy and just got thrown around,” Jeremiah said. “As you can imagine, a tall, lean guy, he really struggled. I thought he was much better this year to the point where I thought he was functional. He’s not a killer. He’s not going to put anybody in the hospital as a blocker, but he’s functional. He can wall guys off and you can use him there.”
Bottom line?
“To me the best matchup on the field is an athletic tight end versus the linebackers and safeties that are going to try and cover him,” Jeremiah said. “Some of the best corners in the SEC couldn’t cover this kid, and now we’re going to ask linebackers to try and match up with him? Not going to happen.”
And that’s why Pitts at No. 3 cannot be and should not be discounted.
Here’s my Monday piece with Ryan Fitzpatrick discussing Tua Tagovailoa’s two elite qualities, plus everything you need to know on the NFL’s new TV deals and how it affects you.
This story was originally published March 22, 2021 at 3:27 PM.
