There's a report out from NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, saying the Ravens might move on from Dennis Pitta. He's coming off a career-high 86 receptions, but he due $5.5 million. At 32 years old, ancient for a tight end, he doesn't seem a great bet to stay healthy.
Here's the tweet from Garafolo. I'm not so sure he's correct, though. The Ravens are a team, after all, that signed 35-year-old Ben Watson to a two-year deal just last offseason. And they have a recent history of coaxing production out of elderly fossils at the tight end position.
Over the last four seasons, the Ravens have had three tight ends over the age of 30 lead that position in receiving for them: Pitta last year, Owen Daniels in 2014 and Dallas Clark in 2013. Then they signed Watson, who might well have led their tight ends had he not gotten hurt. Meanwhile the team's younger tight ends (Crockett Gilmore, Maxx Williams, Ed Dickson, etc.) have generally put up lesser numbers -- gotten hurt or been otherwise surpassed by those creaky veterans.
The team's top receiving seasons by tight ends over the last four years are shown below. Only one of the top 4 receivers was under the age of 30. Watson is coming off an Achilles injury and either he or Pitta (or both) may not be back, but it still seems more likely that one of those older guys leads the position in receiving in 2017.
| RAVENS TIGHT ENDS, 2013-2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | No | Yds | TD |
| 2016 | Dennis Pitta | 31 | 86 | 729 | 2 |
| 2014 | Owen Daniels | 32 | 48 | 527 | 4 |
| 2015 | Crockett Gillmore | 24 | 33 | 412 | 4 |
| 2013 | Dallas Clark | 34 | 31 | 343 | 3 |
| 2013 | Ed Dickson | 26 | 25 | 273 | 1 |
| 2015 | Maxx Williams | 21 | 32 | 268 | 1 |
| 2013 | Dennis Pitta | 28 | 20 | 169 | 1 |
| 2015 | Nick Boyle | 22 | 18 | 153 | 0 |
| 2014 | Dennis Pitta | 29 | 16 | 125 | 0 |
| 2014 | Crockett Gillmore | 23 | 10 | 121 | 1 |
| 2016 | Darren Waller | 24 | 10 | 85 | 2 |
| 2016 | Crockett Gillmore | 25 | 8 | 71 | 1 |
--Andy Richardson