Much-hyped tight end Kyle Pitts to face Giants, who have struggled defending the position

The Giants knew plenty about Kyle Pitts before he even arrived in the NFL.

Mel Kiper Jr. called him the best tight end prospect ever. His coach at Florida, Dan Mullen, called him a "unicorn." Even Giants general manager Dave Gettleman couldn’t help but be enamored by the player, calling him "a different breed of cat." The Falcons took him with the fourth overall selection.

"He was like the most highly touted draft pick I ever heard of coming out in a long time," safety Logan Ryan said.

On Sunday, the Giants' defense will get to see him in person for the first time. Pitts certainly will be at the center of the Falcons’ gameplan since the Giants are one of the worst at stopping opposing tight ends. Through two games, they have allowed 16 receptions on 21 targets for 149 yards and two touchdowns. Only the Texans (18) and Ravens (19) have allowed more catches by tight ends.

Pitts has yet to take over the league the way some projected. In his first two games, he has nine catches for 104 yards and no touchdowns. The Giants want to make sure he doesn’t have that breakout performance on their watch.

"Obviously he’s a guy we have to be worried about," safety Jabrill Peppers told Newsday. "Electric target. Has a great catch radius, 6-5, runs a 4.4, 240 pounds."

But even with those stats, the Giants aren’t going to let the Pitts hype get in their head.

"My thing is everybody has to come in the league and prove themselves," Peppers said. "Obviously he poses a big threat for us both in zone and man, but we don’t shy away from any challenge."

Notes & quotes: Evan Engram (calf) was limited on Wednesday after Joe Judge said he looked "decent" in Monday’s workout. The Giants always envisioned Week 3 as a return for Engram, which is why they did not place him on IR coming out of the preseason. Such a designation would have required him to miss at least three games rather than the two he has sat out. Judge said he still needs to be convinced Engram can play without suffering a setback before he is cleared to make his season debut on Sunday … RB Saquon Barkley (knee), WR Kenny Golladay (hip), DB Ryan (hamstring) and TE Kaden Smith (knee) were limited, and LB Cam Brown (hamstring), DB Nate Ebner (quad) and DL Austin Johnson (illness) did not practice.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.