Giants Named as Potential Trade Destination for Falcons TE Kyle Pitts

It's an interesting idea, but it has zero chance of happening for several reasons.

The New York Giants have been named as a potential trade destination for Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts by CBS Sports. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

New reports have emerged that the Atlanta Falcons are willing to move tight end Kyle Pitts, their 2021 first-round draft pick, if they get the right offer, which, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz, would take at least a Day 2 pick to make happen.

Could the New York Giants, listed as a potential landing spot for the tight end, look to make that deal? Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports believes it’s a possibility, noting that while the Giants are short on cap space, the 24-year-old Pitts would give quarterback Russell Wilson “an added safety valve for an offense sorely lacking secondary playmakers over the last few years.”

Let’s take a deeper dive into the idea of the Giants being a potential landing spot for Pitts and why it doesn't make sense. First, as Benjamin said, the Giants are strapped for cap space, even after restructuring the contract of outside linebacker Brian Burns so they could sign quarterback Jaxson Dart to his rookie deal.

The Giants, per Over the Cap, have $5.947 million in cap space, the third lowest in the league, and they still need to sign defensive lineman Darius Alexander, their third-round pick, and running back Cam Skattebo, their fourth-round pick, while still leaving themselves with cap space for the summer and the season.

Given the sparse cap space the Giants currently have, they’re almost certainly going to need to clear more space diwn the line, with the contracts of defensive lineman Dexter Lawerence II or tackle Andrew Thomas the two most likely candidates.

Want additional reasons why the Giants aren’t a likely spot for Pitts? Besides the fact that the Giants drafted Theo Johnson last year to be their all-purpose tight end, if, as Schultz reported, it will take “at least a Day 2 pick” to make the trade happen, you can count the Giants out.

New York does not have a third-round pick (packages as part of the trade for Dart), leaving it highly unlikely the Giants would send their second-round pick anywhere, thereby causing them to have to sit out Day 2 of next year’s draft. 

Furthermore, depending on where the Giants end up drafting after this season, if they were to trade their second-round pick, that would leave them with just one potential pick in the top 100, a move that, if made by general manager Joe Schoen, would be ill-advised.

While roster tweaking is never a completed process, it seems that for the time being, Schoen is going to hold his water before adding any other players, particularly any potential big-ticket names such as Pitts, whose fifth-year option currently would cost $10.878 million, barring a res-structure and extension.

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