TAMPA, FL. -- Arthur Smith had already confirmed on Friday that Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts would not play against the Buccaneers in Tampa this Sunday. That was never in question. What was in question was how the Falcons would work around the absence of Pitts and Cordarrelle Patterson, too.
For the Falcons, the biggest piece of news regarding inactives was that Bryan Edwards was not included on the list. Edwards was inactive against Seattle and Cleveland. Without Pitts and Patterson, Edwards provides a bit of that height lost at a skill position. The hope would be that Edwards could help alleviate a bit of the pressure the Falcons know Tampa Bay will put on Drake London.
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When asked last week about Edwards inactive status, Smith said then that it had more to do with special teams value than anything else. Though he did add that Edwards is still new in the offensive scheme as well. In other receiver news, while Edwards is active, Atlanta kept Jared Bernhardt inactive on Sunday.
As for tight end depth, the Falcons elevated MyCole Pruitt on Saturday. They also kept Feleipe Franks active to fill out depth behind Parker Hesse and Anthony Firkser in the absence of Pitts.
One final note on the defensive side of the ball is that the Falcons have kept DeAngelo Malone inactive against the Bucs. The rookie outside linebacker was inactive in the first game of the season but has been active since, even notching a tackle for a loss against the Browns last Sunday.
Here's the full list of Falcons inactives:
TE Kyle Pitts
OLB DeAngelo Malone
ILB Nick Kwiatkoski
OL Chuma Edoga
WR Jared Bernhardt
