Kyle Pitts will play football on Sundays. He’ll get big checks with more zeroes on them than most people will ever see in their lives. He’s one of, if not the best tight ends in the nation and his skillset plays perfectly with what the NFL is doing with tight ends.
All that is ahead of him and players in similar positions have made decisions to opt-out of the 2020 college season. Most recently projected first-round receiver Jamar Chase (LSU) decided to opt-out, joining his teammates Kary Vincent, and Tyler Shelvin. Georgia transfer quarterback Jamie Newman announced Wednesday that he was opting out of the season and will begin preparing for the NFL Draft and combine. You can’t blame any of these players. With concerns over coronavirus, every person or player will make their own decision on what is best for them.
Kyle Pitts is likely going to be drafted in the first round. He could have made a decision to opt-out of the 2020 season and that likely wouldn’t have changed his status.
It never crossed his mind.
“It’s something I never really thought of,” Pitts responded to my question on if he considered opting out. “I only was thinking about this season and how I can get better from last year to this year.” ‘
That doesn’t mean Pitts isn’t looking ahead. With the way the NFL has evolved tight ends with his athleticism and skill set are being prioritized and paid. George Kittle signed a five year $75 million dollar extension with the San Francisco 49ers. Travis Kelce re-upped with the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs for a cool $57.25 million with roughly $28 million guaranteed.
“I watch those guys a lot. Those guys, I sit up in the office and watch with the coaches and try and critique their game and add certain pieces that they do in the game to add to my game because I see we kind of do a lot of things similar. But, those guys obviously – they’ve been in the league, and they know how to do certain things,” Pitts said. “But, seeing those contracts really just opened my eyes because years ago tight ends weren’t getting those type[s] of contracts so, now that they’re changing the game it’s really interesting.”
Pitts garnered preseason All-American Honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation. He’s on the preseason watch list for the Biletnikoff (best receiver) and Mackey (best tight end) Awards after a breakout sophomore season. In 2019 Pitts led all Florida receivers with 54 catches and was second on the team in yards (649) and touchdowns (5).
Heading into 2020 Pitts will be the Gators’ biggest target in the passing game again. He’s working on becoming a more complete player, with most of that work coming off the field in the film room. As Pitts became more involved in the offense opposing defense started to target him. They could bracket him, have a safety play over the top of him and it frustrated the young player at times. Now he sits and studies film of how teams have attacked him in an effort to better understand what they’re doing so he can counter it. It’s part of his maturation, a maturation that he showed in his answer, and his dedication to his team. He was never going to put himself ahead of the team and he was never going to consider opting out of the 2020 season.