Baltimore Ravens: Dennis Pitta injury makes offensive outlook dire
The Baltimore Ravens were already going to have issues on offense, but the latest Dennis Pitta injury makes for a harrowing outlook for 2017.
It's never necessarily a bad thing for an NFL team to improve on a strength. The only time that's the case is when a front office makes that decision while ignoring obvious deficiencies. In the case of the Baltimore Ravens, that's largely what they did this offseason. A team long predicated on winning with defense, they blatantly ignored a lacking offense in free agency and the draft.
With the departure of Steve Smith via retirement and Kamar Aiken in free agency, the Ravens receiving corps was left lacking tremendously. Mike Wallace and Breshad Perriman are their top-two guys currently at the position, but that offers little to ease the worries of fans. If there was one person that could make the outlook any kind of favorable, though, it was tight end Dennis Pitta.
When healthy, Pitta has long been the security blanket for Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense. Unfortunately, injuries — specifically concerning his hip — have kept him off the field far too much in recent memory. And as reported this past week, that's going to be the case again in 2017.
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Pitta suffered yet another hip injury at OTAs this past week, putting his season and even his career in jeopardy. And now the Ravens offense is in serious trouble. This isn't to dismiss the severity of Pitta's situation as it's horrible and unfortunate to see. He's tremendously talented and would've been one of the top options in Baltimore if healthy. In fact, the situation that the Ravens now face speaks to his ability and importance to the offense.
Even with Smith on the field last year, Pitta was a huge part of the offense (he played in all 16 games in 2016). The tight end led the Ravens in targets a year ago, accounting for over 17.5 percent of all of their targets on the year. What's more, he also led the team with 86 receptions and was third on the team in receiving yards.
Now with him removed from the offense in addition to losing Smith and Aiken, the Ravens are left with unsteady options. Wallace led Baltimore in receiving yards a year ago, sure. However, his career has been marred by inconsistency. What's more, it's not a stretch to say his effectiveness will be limited without Smith opposite of him.
Then you get to Perriman, who by all accounts is tremendously gifted. The issue, however, is that most wouldn't know as he's been unable to stay healthy long enough to prove it. He missed all of 2015 due to injury and, though he played in all 16 games last year, he was inconsistent and banged up for much of the year.
Thus, the Ravens are left searching for answers in a big way on that side of the ball without Pitta. Even with these weapons a year ago, their offense was far inferior to their defensive effort. Now that gap is going to be even wider and more detrimental to the overall cause. Unless they can pull off a big trade or signing from a surprise cut (Jeremy Maclin, or someone yet to come), the offense is going to be even more lackluster than expected.
