00:00Where were you when you heard Kyle Pitts and his new contract extension, the facts and figures on it, they
00:06signed him to a three-year, $54 million contract, $36 million fully guaranteed, making him one of the NFL's highest
00:14paid tight ends.
00:15They had until July 15th to get this done, otherwise Kyle would have been on the franchise tag. So are
00:20you surprised they made this happen right now?
00:24I am. I definitely am. And we spent a lot of time yesterday praising Kyle Pitts, talking about the maturation
00:31process and everything that kind of comes along with everything we've heard out of him throughout the offseason.
00:37I mentioned yesterday, it's kind of, look, I'll plant my flag. I'm bought into the maturation of Kyle Pitts.
00:43I believe that there is a new chapter to kind of turn there. But, Ali, I got this trusty new
00:49Apple Watch for Father's Day.
00:51So nice. And yesterday, when it dinged and I looked down and I saw Kyle Pitts gets extension, I just
00:57kind of did the, oh, well, and looked back at it and saw, you know, everything starting to pop up,
01:02push notifications, text messages, and all the above.
01:05So was I surprised at the timing? Yeah, I really was. But once you start diving deeper into it, I
01:14think it allowed me to be a little bit more excited about it.
01:16I was sleeping. I'd fallen asleep after our show call. And I woke up. It's one of those deals where,
01:22you know, when, like, you see breaking news and you retweet it or you tweet a quick thought on it
01:27because it's literally just breaking.
01:29And I was, like, like, and I do that a lot. But by the time I saw the Kyle Pitts
01:35news, it was probably, like, an hour and a half because after it had popped up.
01:42And I was like, oh, well, I guess I missed a boat on comment right away.
01:48I am, I want to say, yeah, I'm shocked. They did have until, I think, July 15th, I think, to
02:00renegotiate a contract with him because of the franchise tag.
02:06And I look at it now, and if you were okay with paying him the $15 million for the franchise
02:12tag, right, then why are you not okay with the $18 million he's going to get paid?
02:16Because that's what happens. They rip the franchise tag contract up.
02:19This isn't the normal extension where, like, with Drake, he's still going to play under his fifth year this year.
02:24This is one where they rip it up. It's essentially.
02:27That's a big point to be made. I'm glad you made that point because that's a massive point to be
02:30made.
02:31That is, this is not drawing things out.
02:34No, this doesn't mean he has here four. This doesn't mean it's a three-year extension on top of the
02:39one year and it's a four-year deal.
02:40This means he has technically three years you have him under contract.
02:46The reality of it, it's a two-year deal because they fully guaranteed $36 million.
02:52And I think it depends to me on how you view this contract depends on how you view Kyle Pitts.
03:01This show has been very honest about Kyle Pitts as a tight end and does he do everything that you
03:08necessarily want a tight end.
03:10And I don't think this show believes that if you view it as a traditional tight end spot in line
03:15blocking, that kind of stuff.
03:16However, Kyle has been most productive when he's been used in a less traditional way.
03:26Last year he had the big breakout the last seven or eight games when he was used a lot in
03:33a power slot, which was kind of Drake's position.
03:36In his rookie year, he was used a lot as a really just an all-around receiver.
03:41That's when he had 1,000 yards.
03:44If you view him in that light as more of an all-around receiver, this is a phenomenal deal because
03:52you're getting a No. 2 receiver.
03:55Don't use wide receiver, but a No. 2 receiving threat for $18 million, which is, in the eyes of other
04:03wide receivers, not that bad.
04:07I mean, Cooper Cupp, who was, I know he was at one time an elite wide receiver, but he's, I
04:13think we'd all agree, kind of on a decline, he's making $17.5 million.
04:19I think it's a great point to make.
04:22And that's the thing, because you're spot on.
04:25We've tried to be honest about this because, first of all, I'm hungry for a run game that I know
04:31will help the quarterback process,
04:33the passing game, everything else that comes along with that.
04:35It doesn't just mean Bajon goes for 1,500 yards.
04:38That means situationally, can you exploit some of the matchups you're getting?
04:42But you also have to be honest with yourself about what Kyle Pitts' stats are and what he should be
04:47asked to do.
04:47And I think that that's the way I've kind of looked at this.
04:51Kevin Stefanski, we listened to a cut yesterday about Kevin Stefanski talking about, hey, there are certain roles.
04:57There's things he can do, in line, tight end, in the backfield, in the slot.
05:03Guys, we just said he's the third highest average annual value.
05:06I think the fourth is Isaiah Likely.
05:08Has anybody looked at his stats from a year ago?
05:11It's not even, I mean, we're not even in the ballpark.
05:14We're not even at half of what Kyle Pitts' output is in terms of the receiving game.
05:19So I think you, there's a point where you have to look at it like Bo's talking about and say,
05:24hey, you might look at a tight end that is a flawed blocker, but you also have to look at
05:29the receiving skills.
05:31And when you kind of pony up to that aspect of it, it's not some kind of crazy, outlandish deal
05:37that's going to be Justin Jefferson type money.
05:40It's just not.
05:40And look, I throw away 22 because of the injury, okay?
05:44I think that's fair.
05:46But if you look at his 23 and 24 numbers, 100 catches, 1,269 yards, and seven touchdowns,
05:55I think if that was what we got, to me personally, if that's what we saw after these next two
06:01years,
06:02I would tell you it wasn't worth the money.
06:05Sorry, but it wasn't.
06:07But if you look at his 21 and his 25, where he had, like, what, 150, 60 catches for 2
06:19,000 yards
06:21and six touchdowns, the touchdowns I could do more.
06:25But I would tell you, you know what?
06:26That was worth it.
06:28That was absolutely worth it.
06:29But the blocking thing is always going to be a deal for me because you do ask him to do
06:34that.
06:34And I do need him to do that.
06:36I agree.
06:37And I think that's the thing is the totality of the five years,
06:43you would say he wasn't worth maybe the fourth overall pick.
06:46But you look at some bookend years and you say, well, you know what?
06:51Who's that on?
06:52And I don't blame everything on quarterbacks because we've had guys like Drake London
06:56who still performed.
06:58When Drake was signed, we talked about how Ian Cunningham was saying true to his word.
07:03He said, let us get through for agency.
07:04Let us get through the draft.
07:06And then we'll worry about contract extensions.
07:08Drake came through.
07:08He also said Bajon was top of mind.
07:10Where is Bajon in this?
07:11Because Kyle Pitts was not a part of that conversation.
07:14I truly don't know.
07:15I don't know the answer to that.
07:16And, Ali, I think you asked us about a month ago.
07:18Or maybe it was after the Drake extension.
07:21But I felt like it was before.
07:22It was like, okay, at what point can we expect the Bajon thing?
07:26And I'm like, any day.
07:28Because I think we all agree, look, he's a top three, if not the best running back in
07:33the NFL.
07:34You add in the youth to that and the ability to be available.
07:39We always say the best ability is availability.
07:42And I think that he has to be at top of mind.
07:44I did not expect Kyle Pitts' extension to come before Bajon Robinson.
07:47Again, though, this is not like some kind of outlandish, record-breaking, five-year extension.
07:55This is very much within the realm of kind of what they've tried to do and map out the
08:00next couple of years.
08:02And I also think that Bajon, and I know Bo and I kind of talked about it before the show,
08:07Bajon is, that's not something that has to happen right now.
08:11It's something you'd like to do.
08:14Yeah, you've got two years left, and you don't need to, and anything you do would be
08:18an extension on top of that.
08:20There's also the fact that Bajon might tell them, I'm fine, let's wait.
08:26I mean, they could be talking at the same time.
08:28There's no rush.
08:30You have Bajon, he's going into year four.
08:34You have him for the fifth-year option, which is done.
08:37You already picked it up.
08:40And then you could tag him if you wanted.
08:42Now, I don't think you will.
08:43I think you'll get it done probably by middle of year or this, you know, it would be done
08:49by this time next year.
08:50But this whole thing that you're doing Bajon wrong by not paying him yet, that's a fallacy.
08:57That's a flawed mindset.
09:00And I know that the argument is, yeah, but him and Jameer Gibbs are going to reset the market
09:05and blah, blah, blah.
09:07So?
09:08You know what resets the market every year?
09:11The salary cap going up.
09:13That's what resets.
09:14Not, it's not the, the only reason they can reset the market, and that's allotted,
09:20is because agents and players and teams all know that, hey, we just got 20 million a year
09:26extra because the cap went up.
09:27And the cap's going to go up every year.
09:29You know the last time the cap went down?
09:33COVID.
09:34Guess why?
09:35Because the gate sales were non-existent, you know, concession stands were non-existent
09:41for half the year.
09:43Other than that, the market is resetting itself because of guys' contracts coming up
09:50and a salary cap going up.
09:52So Bajon doesn't need to be done in the summer with two years left on his deal before year
09:59four.
10:02So when you say that this is a pretty good deal for Kyle Pitts, this contract extension
10:08is not out of control, would you have been comfortable paying him more?
10:13No.
10:14No.
10:15No, I wouldn't have.
10:16And I'm glad that it's structured the way it is.
10:18And again, I'm going to give Bo credit because he brought this up off the top.
10:22This is, you already owed him 16.8 or whatever it was for the tag this year.
10:27All right, now you're paying him a couple million more essentially this year, and you
10:33owe him 21 million after that.
10:35That's not something that backs you in the corner.
10:37And we've made jokes about the optionality that it seems like Ian Cunningham has brought
10:41to the table.
10:42The bottom line is, and I know that I've been on opposite sides of the table with Bo on this,
10:48you have so many holes that need to be filled.
10:51And remember, you only had five draft picks this year.
10:54You have so many holes that need to be filled.
10:55It's not like you're going to go, oh, we'll let him go.
10:57We'll go get somebody else.
10:59You know what I mean?
10:59Well, hey, we'll go out and find our own Brock Bowers next year.
11:02We'll let that tag expire.
11:04We'll let him sign.
11:05That's just, that's not, I think Ian Cunningham and company understand that's not how you can
11:08operate right now.
11:10All right.
11:11Secure what he is for what he is.
11:13Utilize him at what he's good at over the next couple of years.
11:16And again, figure out what you have at the quarterback position and then let's go, you
11:21know, full throttle forward.
11:22That's what made me laugh is I was, you know, um, because we've been labeled Kyle Pitts haters
11:27unfairly, just because we're very fair and honest about what we see from him.
11:32And the people thinking victory laughs.
11:34And I was like, well, what's your, I was like, are you mad?
11:38I'm like, why?
11:39Like you didn't overpay.
11:41Like I was relieved when I saw the number, when I saw three years, 54, and then it was
11:46two years, 36 guaranteed, the 36 guaranteed.
11:49I was like, I mean, you're already paying him like 15.7 this year.
11:55Yeah.
11:56So I was actually relieved and I would have been mad if they overpaid him.
12:00Yeah.
12:00I think two things can be true.
12:02And would I have wanted to pay more?
12:03Absolutely not.
12:04Am I happy for Kyle Pitts though?
12:07The person.
12:08And yes, I am happy and excited for him because I do think there's a new chapter in there.
12:13I really do.
12:14If you take people at their word, which I try to do until they give me major reason not
12:18to, he, he wants to be here.
12:21He's built his family here.
12:24I think he didn't want to go test the market just to get paid this ridiculous amount because
12:30he thought he could get it.
12:31I think he wanted to be here.
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