When Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta fractured and dislocated his right hip for the second time in two years, one of the questions about his future was whether or not it would include a return to the football field.
The general feeling was that it would be unlikely for Pitta to return from such a serious injury for a second time, but that appears to be too pessimistic a take on things. Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday that he was one of those assuming that Pitta was finished, but that he’s been given the opposite message as Pitta makes his way through rehab.
“Everything I’ve been told, and I’ve got to be honest with you, it was surprising to me because my assumption would be ‘Wow, this twice in a row, it’s going to be tough,’ but they say it has no bearing on the future,” Harbaugh said, via the Baltimore Sun. “If he feels 100 percent, Dennis can play again. Dennis has told me he wants to play again, and of course if he wants to play, he’ll get every opportunity to play if the medical people clear him. I’ve been told to this point that they see no reason why he wouldn’t be cleared if everything goes according to plan, so that’s all I know about it. I don’t have a degree in hip mechanics or whatever. There’s a lot of things that get said where the expertise might be in question.”
There’s a lot of space between being able to play once cleared and actually getting cleared, so no one should be writing his name into the lineup for 2015 just yet. Pitta’s $4 million contract for next season is guaranteed, though, and that means there’s every reason for the Ravens to give him every opportunity to resume his role as one of Joe Flacco’s favorite targets.
