Baltimore Ravens tight end Dennis Pitta signed his restricted free agent tender Monday, a second-round tender that will pay Pitta $2.023 million this season.
Pitta is now eligible to participate in the Ravens' offseason workouts.
Pitta is entering the final year of the rookie contract he signed in 2010, but he's part of a group of players that Baltimore has expressed an interest in working out a contract extension with as soon as possible.
Pitta, 27, was a fourth-round pick of the Ravens in 2010. He had just one catch as a rookie, but he's emerged as an integral part of Baltimore's passing game during the last two seasons. He had 40 catches for 405 yards and three touchdowns in 2011 and 61 catches for 669 yards and seven scores last year.
He added 14 catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns in the Ravens' four playoff games during their run to a Super Bowl title.
NOTE: Baltimore signed four undrafted free agent rookies Monday and waived wide receiver Tori Gurley.
Gurley signed a future contract with the Ravens in January.
The four undrafted rookies that the Ravens signed are wide receiver Rashaad Carter (Tusculum), cornerback Moe Lee (Utah), safety Gary Walker (Idaho) and outside linebacker Meshak Williams (Kansas State).
All four participated in Baltimore's rookie minicamp last week on a tryout basis.
Carter was out of football last season, but he's Tusculum's all-time leader in receiving yards (2,928) and had 70 catches for 1,056 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior in 2011.
Lee is a former junior college wide receiver who was a part-time starter at cornerback for Utah the last two years. He made three starts as a junior in 2011 and six starts as a senior last year. He had three interceptions as a junior and one as a senior.
Walker was a three-year starter at free safety for Idaho and had 266 tackles during those three seasons as a starter. He had 105 tackles as a junior in 2011 and a team-best 99 tackles as a senior.
Williams was a college teammate of Ravens second-round pick Arthur Brown. The 6-foot-2, 247-pound Williams played defensive end in college but will likely compete for a roster spot at outside linebacker with Baltimore.
Williams had 10.5 sacks as a senior at Kansas State last season, but he went undrafted largely because of a poor showing at Kansas State's Pro Day, where he ran the 40-yard dash in an unimpressive 5.04 seconds and did just 14 repetitions of 225 pounds on the bench press, considered a below average number for a player his size.
Reach staff writer Matt Zenitz at 410-857-7896 or matt.zenitz@carrollcountytimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.
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