The Baltimore Ravens will begin the 2015 season without tight end Dennis Pitta, who will be on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list because he is yet to recover from his recent hip surgery.
According to NFL.com and the Ravens' website, Week 7 will be the earliest possible return date for Pitta.
That will be on Oct. 26 when the Ravens face the Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
"He's not going to be activated for the beginning of our regular season. We'd be talking about a midseason- type of a thing if we did it, so we'll just have to see where that goes," Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said, according to the team's website.
Pitta has been plagued by injuries in the past two seasons following a breakout year in the 2012 season when they won Super Bowl XLVII.
During that season Pitta tallied a career-high 61 receptions for 669 yards and seven touchdowns.
After that the 30-year-old tight end was limited to only seven games in the next two seasons (2013 and 2014).
Pitta suffered his first major hip injury in their training camp in July 2013 sustaining a dislocated and fractured hip and went through surgery immediately and returned in Week 14 of the 2013 season.
Last season, Pitta again dislocated his hip in September during regular season action and went through surgery that ended his year, allowing him to play only four games.
Pitta was with the team during their organized team activities (OTAs) and minicamp earlier this offseason doing individual and positional drills but was placed on the PUP list as training camp began, according to the Ravens' website.
Meanwhile, in a report by ESPN, the Ravens will be starting Crockett Gillmore at the tight end position in Pitta's absence and prepared for the situation by selecting tight ends Max Williams (second round) and Nick Boyle (fifth round) in the 2015 NFL Draft.
