The fact that Dennis Pitta got on the field at all last season was impressive.
He returned to action just four months after suffering a fractured and dislocated hip that doctors initially considered career threatening, and caught a critical touchdown pass in his first game back.
He played the final four games of the season, and showed the Ravens he is worth a five-year contract extension paying him as one of the game's top tight ends.
But Pitta admitted Wednesday during a press conference that he wasn't his usual self once he returned to action.
"I'd be lying to you if I said I was 100 percent with my explosion and strength," Pitta said. "I didn't have any pain and I felt good playing, but kind of that quickness and that explosion wasn't all the way back – which was expected."
Pitta was still productive in the final quarter of the season, catching 20 passes for 169 yards and one touchdown.
The injury Pitta suffered during training camp was serious and rare, almost never seen on a football field. It's an injury more commonly found in victims of car crashes. The surgery to repair the hip fracture was successful and Pitta did not have any structural damage, but he still had to undergo an extensive rehab process.
PItta was healthy once he returned to the field, but he still had to adjust to being sidelined for nearly the entire season. Now Pitta has time to allow the hip to get back to full strength with weight and speed training before the Ravens begin training camp in July.
"The big thing for me right now is just continue to strengthen my hip and my leg and all that," Pitta said. "Typically, you don't regain that [explosiveness] four months after surgery, and so that's something that I continue to work on, and I've been training and trying to get that to 100 percent, which I'm close."
