After two strong seasons in the National Football League (NFL), Pitta suffered a hip injury in 2013 and played only occasionally until 2016, when he set a career high in receiving yards.

[3] He played football as a wide receiver and cornerback,[4] and his large size made him difficult to cover.

[4] He was a scholar-athlete all four years in high school and was also named a National Football Foundation Scholar Athlete.

Pitta was shown interest by Dartmouth, Navy, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Utah, and Yale,[4] but no Division I school offered him a scholarship.

[6] Pitta chose to attend Brigham Young University, where he walked onto the BYU Cougars football team as a wide receiver.

Pitta was moved to tight end by head coach Gary Crowton, where he soon earned a scholarship.

Pitta served a mission for the church in the Dominican Republic,[4] which caused a two-year hiatus in his college football career.

Pitta was named to the All-Mountain West Conference (MWC) first-team, and he also received Academic All-MWC honors.

[12] Phil Steele's assessed him as the fourth-ranked draft-eligible tight end and placed him on its preseason All-America fourth team.

[27] Pitta improved greatly in the 2011 season, becoming a common target for quarterback Joe Flacco and contributing to a dangerous tight end tandem alongside starter Ed Dickson.

In the Ravens' season finale, he was the team's leading receiver with six catches, a then-career-high 62 yards and his third career touchdown.

[30] However, Baltimore's season would come to an end here, after receiver Lee Evans dropped a game-winning touchdown and kicker Billy Cundiff missed a short, game-tying field goal that would have sent the game to overtime.

[33] In the 2013 playoffs, against the Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card Round, he caught two passes for 27 yards and a 20-yard touchdown.

[34] In both the Divisional round against the Broncos and the AFC Championship against the Patriots, Pitta had 55 yards apiece, scoring a touchdown in the latter.

[35][36] In Super Bowl XLVII, despite starting the game behind Ed Dickson, Pitta caught four balls for 26 yards and a touchdown to help lead the Ravens to a 34–31 victory over the 49ers.

[38] On May 13, 2013, the Ravens announced that Pitta signed his second round restricted free agent tender worth $2.023 million.

[39] On July 27, 2013, Pitta suffered a dislocated and fractured hip during training camp and underwent surgery the same night.

Pitta was not immediately placed on injured reserve and examinations of the hip revealed no ligament or cartilage damage, but he was still expected to miss the entire season.

Pitta was placed on season ending injured reserve later that day, but he stated that he had not yet elected to retire from the NFL.