Will Falcons TE John FitzPatrick Play In His Rookie Year?
The third day of the NFL Draft is often billed as the most important for roster building, as teams are given four rounds to add depth to their rosters and potentially hit on starters at a cheaper price.
One of those depth pieces is Georgia tight end John FitzPatrick, who the team drafted with one of its sixth-round picks.
On paper, the 6-7, 250-pound FitzPatrick offers prototypical size, but doesn’t bring much statistical college production; he totaled just 17 receptions for 200 yards and one touchdown across 38 games.
However, the passing game isn’t where FitzPatrick makes his money. With his size and physicality, he’s an outstanding run blocker who can create big holes at the end of the line of scrimmage, a particularly important strength for the Falcons’ wide-zone scheme.
FitzPatrick has a direct path to playing time in Atlanta, as he should slide seamlessly into Lee Smith’s role as the top blocking tight end. Smith retired in January after 11 seasons in the NFL.
Despite catching only nine passes for 65 yards, Smith started six games for the Falcons last season, and appeared in 16 contests. He played almost 30 percent of the offensive snaps, and an additional 14 percent on special teams.
The Falcons were in the top five last season in 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) at 27 percent and 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends) at 8 percent. Falcons head coach Arthur Smith loves the tight end position, and prioritizes it in his offense.
While FitzPatrick surely won’t put up the gaudy numbers that fellow tight end Kyle Pitts is expected to, and likely won’t match the receiving output of the newly signed Anthony Firkser, he certainly has a chance to play a significant amount of snaps in Atlanta’s offense during his rookie season.
Considering the Falcons spent just a sixth round pick on FitzPatrick, if he can slide into the third tight end position right away, his rookie season will be deemed successful. After all, adding a player in the sixth round who can be on the field for roughly 30 percent of the team’s offensive snaps is nothing but a positive return.
