Thursday 15 June 2017 14:41, UK
The Baltimore Ravens have released tight end Dennis Pitta with an injury waiver after he hurt his right hip for a third time in practice last week.
The injury occurred during an offseason practice session Friday. Each time Pitta hurt the hip previously, the injury was serious enough to be considered career-threatening.
That appears to be the case again following his release Wednesday.
The 31-year-old Pitta began his career with Baltimore in 2010 and caught a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl when the Ravens won the 2012 NFL title.
Pitta first injured his hip in 2013 and hurt it again in 2014. He played in four games in 2013, three in 2014 and sat out the entire 2015 season.
Last year, however, he returned to catch 86 passes, most by a tight end in franchise history.
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said last week: "Dennis is one of the great Ravens, and he has done everything he can to make our team better."
Meanwhile the Ravens are reportedly hosting wide receiver Jeremy Maclin after after his surprise release by Kansas City Chiefs.
Baltimore currently have Mike Wallace and Breshad Perriman as primary receiving targets and with TE option Pitta released a move for Maclin would make sense, although a host of teams including Buffalo have been linked with a move.
You can follow all the action, reaction, live blogs and news from the 2017-18 NFL season with Sky Sports.
Don't forget to follow us skysports.com/NFL, our app for mobile devices and iPad or our Twitter account @skysportsNFL for news, reports and expert analysis.
