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Kyle Pitts Is Primed for a 2026 Encore — My TE5

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Jul 30, 2026
Published
Thu, July 30, 2026
2
Player insights
2
Players mentioned
Topics
Drake LondonKyle Pitts
Player analysis

Player insights

2

Drake London

PositiveInjury0:20

Drake London's health status is a critical variable for 2026 fantasy planning. London dealt with a PCL injury late in 2025 and played through it as a shell of himself down the stretch. When London was on the field, Kyle Pitts' efficiency metrics collapsed: yards per route run dropped to 35th (from 2.56/2nd without London) and targets per route run fell to 33rd (from 1st without London). London's return to full health in 2026 would reduce Pitts' target share and route participation, making London's availability and recovery trajectory a key monitoring point.

Insight page

Kyle Pitts

PositiveProjection0:00

Pitts finished 2025 as TE2 in total points and is projected as TE5 for 2026, but Ian Hartitz argues he should rank TE2 or TE3. Hartitz's case rests on: (1) full health entering 2026; (2) elite efficiency metrics without Drake London on the field—2.56 yards per route run (2nd among TEs) and 1st in targets per route run, compared to 35th and 33rd when London played; (3) favorable quarterback and play-caller context under Tua Tagovailoa and Kevin Stefanski/Tommy Rees partnership, which produced four top-eight TE seasons combined since 2022 (David Njoku, Harrison); (4) reduced target competition if London remains sidelined or diminished in 2026. Hartitz sees a clear path for Pitts to outperform his TE5 ranking.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

40
0:00Kyle Pitts, and yes, he is fully
0:02healthy. And yes, he's coming off, you
0:03know, a freaking awesome year where if
0:04you do want to go ahead and be the
0:05fantasy analyst that doesn't say per
0:07game, and you look at the total points,
0:09he was right there at number two, you
0:10know, tight end two on the season. So,
0:12166 yards, not one, not two, three
0:14touchdowns in that opening playoff week.
0:1715, again, hell of a drug on Thursday
0:18night football. The damning part here
0:20are the splits with and without Drake
0:23London. Cuz let's face it, down the
0:25stretch of the season, it was with Drake
0:26London first sidelined and then just
0:28kind of a shell of himself coming off
0:29his own PCL that he was trying to play
0:31through. So, Kyle Pitts last year,
0:33without Drake London on the field, 2.56
0:35yards per route run, that's the second
0:36best mark among tight ends. [music] His
0:38targets per route run, first. With
0:40London on the field, those numbers slip
0:42to 35th and 33rd, guys. So, the case
0:44here for him doing great things, play
0:46caller, Kevin Stefanski, Tommy Rees
0:48partnership in Cleveland, we had David
0:50Njoku and Harrison have four top-eight
0:52seasons combined since 2022. And
0:55quarterback, Tua. Great things with
0:57Jonnu Smith in 2024, even got old and
1:00Darren Waller, you know, working out
1:01well in 2025. And with the lack of
1:03target competition other than Drake
1:04London, we should be expecting Pitts to
1:07either be the two or three. I can see
1:08the path with the play caller and the
1:10quarterback.
1:12Kyle Pitts, tight end five.

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