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Baltimore Ravens cut injured tight end Dennis Pitta

frank schwab
NFL writer

Wednesday brought a tough end to tight end Dennis Pitta’s Baltimore Ravens career.

Pitta, who dislocated his hip for a third time in his career last week, was cut by the Ravens with an injury waiver. The team saves $2.5 million in salary cap space. Pitta, who turns 32 on June 29 with a long rehabilitation ahead of him, might be done in the NFL.

Pitta’s career was in jeopardy after his first two hip injuries. His return last year and was a great story, as he caught 86 passes for 729 yards after playing in just seven games the previous three seasons combined. He missed all of 2015.

Just when it looked like Pitta was going to have a nice second act in his career, he suffered another freak injury in practice.

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“Dennis is one of the great Ravens, and he has done everything he can to make our team better,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said last week, according to the team’s site.

Pitta will be best remembered in Baltimore for his role on the 2012 championship team. He caught a touchdown in three of the team’s four playoff games, including one in a Super Bowl win against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Ravens lose one of Joe Flacco‘s most reliable targets last season. There are some young tight end options on the roster but none have shown the consistency Pitta did throughout his career. Pitta’s loss is a blow to an offense that doesn’t have a lot of dangerous skill-position players (though the extra $2.5 million could be used to land free-agent Jeremy Maclin or give the available Eric Decker a deal).

The NFL is a brutal game. Few people can attest to that better than Pitta.

Dennis Pitta was released by the Ravens. (AP)
Dennis Pitta was released by the Ravens on Wednesday. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!