The Baltimore Ravens where already going to have a tough time repeating as Super Bowl champions this upcoming season, but those chances got even worse Sunday when they learned they lost tight end Dennis Pitta for the season after he had successful surgery.
Pitta fractured and dislocated his hip during a Ravens training camp practice Saturday, when he collided with safety James Idehigbo on a jump ball in the back of the end zone.
This is a huge loss for the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens, who with Pitta out and Anquan Boldin no longer with the team after signing with the San Francisco 49ers in the offseason gives quarterback Joe Flacco a team that lost it’s top two receiving options. The two players where also Flacco’s two favorite end-zone options.
The loss also forces the Ravens to go back to the one tight end set, which they had wanted to move from this year and go to a two tight end set with Pitta and Ed Dixon.
It’s very unfortunate for Pitta too, who was about to be playing in a contract year and hoping to leverage his production this upcoming season into a lucrative long-term contract. That’s now the least of Pitta’s concerns though and will be a huge hole for the defending Super Bowl champions to fill.