The New England Patriots made two major moves to try to add depth to their tight end room this offseason. One was to sign free agent blocking tight end Julian Hill. The other was to select Eli Raridon in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
The strategy made sense — until Hill went down early in the offseason with a season-ending injury. The team then did nothing to replace him.
Hill's injury made the strategy fall apart. One tight end with a track record was potentially available via trade: big-name pass-catcher Kyle Pitts Sr.
Pitts would have been a great adjunct to stalwart Hunter Henry, who's now in his age-31 season. Pitts ended up signing an extension with Atlanta, though.
Now, Bleacher Report's Alex Kay is saying his signing may already be regrettable for Atlanta. But was it?
Instead of trading for a young veteran like Pitts after Hill's injury, the Patriots stood pat, and opened the season with Henry, Raridon, and another rookie in Tanner Arkin. It was a blunder that is now even more glaring with the injury to the team's best pass catcher overall, wide receiver A.J. Brown, who's out indefinitely.
If Henry is injured, this gaffe could become catastrophic. Pitts would have been a solid addition.
The Patriots' tight end problem proves why Kyle Pitts would have been worth the gamble
Kyle Pitts has had a very slow start to his 2026 season with only two catches for 20 yards in his first three games. But there are mitigating circumstances, like the team's top two quarterbacks, Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa, being on the shelf for two of them. Regardless, Kay has written about the five most regrettable contracts signed in the 2026 offseason by NFL teams and Pitts is one of the five.
"Kyle Pitts Sr. has had a polarizing start to his NFL career," Kay wrote. "Injuries and inconsistency plagued Pitts ... but he finally put things together in 2025 to record some of the best statistical marks of his career. ... Fresh off an 88-catch, 928-yard, five-touchdown campaign, the Falcons rewarded his steady production with a contract extension that made him the NFL's fourth-highest paid player at the tight end position. That decision is looking extremely regrettable after Pitts managed just one catch for 15 yards over the first two games of the 2026 NFL season. ... If Pitts can't figure things out with [Michael] Penix under center, Atlanta will be saddled with one of the league's worst contracts."
Pitts was a potential trade candidate for the Patriots before signing a $53 million extension this offseason with the Falcons. Some may think the Patriots were lucky to have stayed away since his inauspicious start to this season has caused a lot of second-guessing about the signing.
But are Pitts' early struggles an aberration, and is there now an opportunity for the Patriots to deal for this tight end?
Pitts, who had that breakout 2025 season, will probably bounce back when he and Penix get back in sync. It can be argued that the Patriots were fortunate to have passed on a trade for Pitts this offseason. More likely, if healthy, he'll get back to catching plenty of passes once he has a top quarterback throwing him the ball.
The Patriots needed another pass-catching tight end this offseason and didn't get one. It's likely that Pitts would have been just fine — with Drake Maye throwing him the ball.
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