Dennis Pitta: Why Fantasy Owners Shouldn't Trust Ravens TE

In Week 1, Dennis Pitta had five receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown on nine targets for the Baltimore Ravens. So clearly, he should be picked up on the waiver wire and started in all fantasy football formats, right?

Not so fast, my friends.

For one, I don't think his nine targets are a sustainable number in this offense. Moving forward, I think you'll see Torrey Smith, Anquan Boldin and even Ray Rice receive a larger proportion of Joe Flacco's passes heading their way.

For another, there is the little matter of Ed Dickson, the other tight end on the Ravens. While Ed Dickson is no Todd Heap (five years ago, that is), he'll see a decent amount of targets throughout the season as well.

If you could somehow use both of them every week in your tight end slot, you would probably get a productive player for your team. But seeing as you'll have to pick one of them, and it will likely be impossible to predict which one will be better from week to week, I'd recommend avoiding both.

If you are in a deeper league and need some help at tight end, I suppose you could do worse than adding either one. Each are readily available, and I'd lean toward Pitta out of the two. 

But if you're going to go the "overreaction add" route and expect Pitta to be a stud for your team week in and week out, consider yourself warned. He will disappoint you. He won't be a major priority for targets in this Baltimore offense. 

Go add someone like Scott Chandler instead. 

I always think that trying to project tight ends outside of the elite options is the most inexact of sciences, so you really shouldn't be wasting your waiver priority on a tight end in the first place. There's a pretty good chance a tight end with equal value will be available for free once the waiver period ends anyway.

So hold your horse, ye tight-end hungry fantasy owners primed for an overreaction add of Pitta. Chances are, you will regret that waiver claim sooner rather than later. 

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