It’s safe to say NFL Network analyst and former Eagles scout Daniel Jeremiah is bullish on Florida tight end Kyle Pitts.
And he thinks Pitts would be a great fit with the Eagles.
After he had the Eagles take Pitts at No. 6 in his latest mock draft last month, Jeremiah on a national Zoom call with reporters put forth a strong case for why the Eagles should go that way.
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“I think you can make a strong case that he’s the best player in the draft,” Jeremiah said.
Last month, Jeremiah ranked Pitts as the third-best prospect in the draft, but that ranking came before Jeremiah began really diving into defensive tape. What he’s seen there are plenty of Day 1 and 2 cornerback failing to cover the 20-year-old Philadelphia native.
“To me, it’s a matchup that’s going to be in your favor every time you line up,” Jeremiah said. “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 head. That, to me, is what makes him special.”
Jeremiah was asked about a scenario where Pitts, Ja’Marr Chase, DeVonta Smith and most of the offensive and defensive linemen were still available for the Eagles at No. 6.
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Guess who Jeremiah still picked?
“I would take Pitts,” he said. “I would. I think it’s a no-brainer. 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.”
For the crowd that is concerned about taking a tight end with that high of a pick, Jeremiah said that if Pitts were entering this draft as an X receiver (without his ability as a tight end), he would still be a top 10-15 pick: “At that size, to be able to get in and out like he does is pretty rare.”
In eight games in 2020, Pitts caught 43 passes for 770 yards (17.9) and 12 touchdowns. He was downright dynamic.
Still not sold? Jeremiah also made a few other salient points:
- Picking Pitts would help the Eagles evaluate Jalen Hurts. If the Eagles are really planning on going into the season with Hurts as their starter, then they need to do everything they can to set him up for success. Jeremiah thinks Pitts would accomplish that.
“I think when you have Jalen Hurts and you want to see what he can do and now you have Kyle Pitts and you’ve got (Dallas) Goedert, you’ve got two guys that can really uncover and you’re going to have favorable matchups right in the middle of the field if you want them,” Jeremiah said. “Those can be some easy completions. To me, that one would make the most sense for them. I think it would make their offense the most dangerous.”
- While it wouldn’t matter during the length of the rookie contracts, Jeremiah made a point that the tight end position is generally paid less than the receiver position. He pointed at the difference in price of franchise tags between receivers and tight ends. The receiver franchise tag for this season is over $6 million more than tight ends.
This is longer-term thinking, but if the Eagles are deciding between a tight end and a receiver, Jeremiah makes a compelling case to take the tight end.
“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,” Jeremiah said. “So you’re getting the same level of impact without having to pay that same level of cost. To me, I think that’s something that could be a tiebreaker when you’re making that decision.”
- While Jeremiah said that if Pitts is gone, he’d take Chase, he also thinks there are better receiver options in later rounds than there are tight end options. So if the Eagles want to add at receiver, they’ll still have an opportunity to do so.
“This Kyle Pitts is a rare dude, man,” Jeremiah said. “I would take him.”
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