OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- The Baltimore Ravens moved tight end Dennis Pitta to the reserve-physically unable to perform list Tuesday, meaning he'll miss the first six games of the regular season.
The Ravens, though, are not banking on Pitta coming back after two hip surgeries in two years.
"As far as I'm concerned, you plan for the worst and you hope for the best," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday. "I'm planning on him not being back. That would be the plan from a football standpoint. And I think he's planning on being back.
"It just comes down to whether it's a smart thing to do, whether it's what he wants to do and really what his family wants to do. He and his wife have to make that decision for themselves, and he's going to get more information I'm sure."
The Ravens certainly looked like a team moving forward in the draft, when they traded up to get Maxx Williams in the second round and took Nick Boyle in the fifth round.
Pitta, 30, has only played seven games in the last two seasons, catching a total of 36 passes for 295 yards and one touchdown. Even though he has yet to be cleared to practice, Pitta has been running routes and catching passes after practice and before preseason games. He's also attended every meeting.
In late July, Pitta was unsure whether he would play in 2015.
"Hopefully, I will be on the field this year," Pitta said. "It's still a little bit up in the air. I feel pretty good physically. But I'm kind of at the whim of the doctors whether or not they give me the go-ahead to play. Hopefully it works out, and I can be back out there."
The Ravens signed Pitta to a five-year, $32 million contract after the 2013 season. He lasted only three games into the new deal, going down without being touched in Cleveland. Pitta had surgery to repair his fractured right hip 11 months ago.
Baltimore is in a wait-and-see mode with Pitta, whose $4 million salary this year is guaranteed. The decision on his future comes next year, when his $7.2 million cap number ranks No. 8 among tight ends.
"I can tell you this, and I don't think I'm speaking out of turn, that he really wants to play," Harbaugh said. "He really wants to have a career and he wants to have a legacy as a player. That's more important than anything, money or anything else. The statement he's able to make about his football career. The other part is his quality of life, which he's got to mix into that consideration. That's what he's trying to figure out."