BYU football: Ravens select BYU's Dennis Pitta in 4th round of NFL draft

In an NFL draft that featured an abundance of talented tight ends, BYU's Dennis Pitta was selected in the fourth round Saturday — No. 114 overall — by the Baltimore Ravens.

Curiously, Pitta, who is the Cougars' all-time leading pass-catcher, wasn't the only tight end claimed by the Ravens. In the third round, Baltimore chose Oregon's Ed Dickson.

"It's kind of unusual for us to have picked a player at a position, and then come back and back it up, but that's how good we felt about bringing Dennis into the fold," Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said in a post-draft news conference.

"Both Dickson and Pitta are excellent receivers, have excellent ability to work the middle of the field, excellent ability to be able to gain yards after the catch, and they provide big targets for (quarterback Joe) Flacco. Now we have a quarterback that can throw to some big targets in the middle of the field, that even when they're covered, they're not covered. That's the way we felt about both of them."

While Pitta was the only Cougar player drafted this year, three others signed undrafted rookie free agent contracts — quarterback Max Hall with the Arizona Cardinals, fullback Manase Tonga with the Oakland Raiders, and tight end Andrew George with the Carolina Panthers. In a way, Pitta finished as a runner-up, once again, to Florida tight end Aaron Hernandez. Last December, Hernandez earned the Mackey Award, emblematic of the nation's top collegiate tight end, over Pitta. On Saturday, Hernandez was picked No. 113 overall (one spot ahead of Pitta) by the New England Patriots

The Patriots had shown plenty of interest in Pitta prior to the draft, including an individual workout.

Pitta, the seventh tight end taken in this year's draft, and Dickson figure to battle Davon Drew for the right to back up the Ravens' starting tight end, Todd Heap, who has played nine years in Baltimore.

"I think one thing that runs through all these guys — they fit our depth chart really well," Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh said. "They were the best available player on the board at the time. They also were needs that we had, and we have spots for these guys on our team. So now, how we use them ?— how they fit in, middle of the field, downfield, whatever those opportunities are — I think now we start building that through the minicamps and the OTAs."

Baltimore traded out of the first round of the draft, sending the No. 25 pick to Denver — which was used for the most controversial selection of the draft when the Broncos grabbed Florida quarterback Tim Tebow — in exchange for picks in the second, third and fourth rounds.

Pitta became the first BYU player ever selected by the Ravens. He will be reunited with former Cougar and current Raven reserve quarterback John Beck. Pitta and Beck played together during Pitta's freshman campaign in 2004.

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com