Justin Tucker’s No. 9 jersey has been more visible in the stands at M&T Bank Stadium than that of any other current Baltimore Ravens player, except two-time league MVP Lamar Jackson’s No. 8.
As the most accurate kicker in NFL history and the gold standard at his position for over a decade, Tucker has already made a strong case for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His spot in the Ravens’ Ring of Honor felt like a lock several years ago.
Now, Tucker’s 13-season run with the Ravens is over. His career is in jeopardy, too.
Monday, the Ravens moved on from the veteran kicker, who has been accused by 16 massage therapists of sexually inappropriate behavior during bodywork sessions. The allegations, which include Tucker intentionally exposing his genitals and brushing some of the therapists’ thighs with his fingers, were made in a series of investigative stories by The Baltimore Banner, starting in late January. Tucker has denied the allegations.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta framed Tucker’s release as a football decision, and that may have been done partly out of necessity. A team citing “character” issues as a reason for a player’s release puts itself at risk of a grievance if the player is cleared of any wrongdoing.
“Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one of those instances. Considering our current roster, we have made the tough decision to release Justin Tucker,” DeCosta said in a statement released late Monday afternoon. “Justin created many significant and unforgettable moments in Ravens history. His reliability, focus, drive, resilience and extraordinary talent made him one of the league’s best kickers for over a decade. We are grateful for Justin’s many contributions while playing for the Ravens. We sincerely wish him and his family the very best in this next chapter of their lives.”
There are undoubtedly football elements to the decision. Tucker is 35 and coming off the worst season of his career. He was one of the highest-paid kickers in the league. By designating him a post-June 1 release, the cash-strapped Ravens will add just over $4 million of salary-cap space in about a month.
There was a sense of inevitability about Tucker’s release when, for the first time in team history, the Ravens drafted a kicker. They used a sixth-round pick on Arizona kicker Tyler Loop, who made his debut at the team’s rookie minicamp, which began Sunday.
The timing of the Tucker decision certainly suggests the Ravens understood the potential awkwardness of having Tucker and Loop in the building at the same time. Tucker is a high-profile player and was the longest-tenured Raven. As long as he remained with the organization, it was going to pose a significant challenge to Loop’s seizing the kicking job.
The Ravens vowed to monitor the NFL’s investigation into the allegations against Tucker, saying they didn’t want to make any rash decisions and were willing to let the situation play out.
The allegations stemmed from a period between 2012 and 2016. No charges or civil suits have been filed, and Maryland has a three-year statute of limitations for civil lawsuits. But given the allegations, there was mounting pressure on the Ravens’ decision-makers, namely owner Steve Bisciotti, to move on from Tucker.
That doesn’t mean the news of Tucker’s release isn’t jarring. It’s always jarring when a franchise great gets let go. And Tucker achieved that lofty status with the Ravens despite playing a position that doesn’t often lend itself to celebrity and fanfare.
The nature of the allegations was a stunning contrast to Tucker’s well-crafted public image. He has long talked about the importance of his family and faith. He’s active in the community, where he, his wife and their son live year-round and often are seen at Orioles games and other events in Baltimore. He’s an advocate for Catholic charities and once performed “Ave Maria” during a Christmas festival at a local basilica.
The allegations blemished Tucker’s previously sterling reputation and ultimately contributed to his losing his job. And now, the Ravens will start a football season with a new kicker for the first time since 2012, when an unheralded and undrafted player out of the University of Texas with unlimited range and confidence brought stability to the position for over a decade.
Tucker came to Baltimore at a critical time. After a successful rookie minicamp tryout, he signed with the Ravens as a college free agent. He wasted no time in justifying the organization’s faith in him. He made 30 of 33 field goal attempts as a rookie, and his 38-yard field goal with under six minutes to play proved to be the winning points in Baltimore’s 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.
That was the start of Tucker emerging as one of the most reliable weapons in the sport and arguably the best kicker the league had seen. He garnered the first of five first-team All-Pro honors — and the first of seven Pro Bowl berths — the following year in 2013.
At one point in his career, Tucker made 65 consecutive field goal attempts in fourth quarters and overtimes, the longest such streak in league history. It ended when Tucker’s bid for a game-winning 67-yard field goal against the Jacksonville Jaguars in November 2022 came up short.
While making field goals at an unprecedented rate, Tucker exuded confidence and charisma. In a league in which kickers are traditionally seen and not heard, he was an outlier. He was the subject of a “60 Minutes” profile. He danced. He impersonated celebrities. He won a nationally televised NFL talent show in 2018 because of his opera singing. Tucker didn’t just become one of the faces of the Ravens. He became one of the team’s most prominent and popular voices, and he embraced it.
He invited kids to shag footballs for him during offseason workouts at a local park. He signed countless autographs after training camp practices, where his presence drew cheers exceeded only by the fan reaction to Jackson.
No Raven was featured on more commercials locally than Tucker, not even Jackson. Tucker was the pitchman for Royal Farms, a chain of convenience stores headquartered in Baltimore. There was a bond between the city and its football team’s kicker.
Yet, the past three or four months have certainly tested that. When Tucker experienced the first extended struggles of his career during the 2024 season, missing eight kicks and two extra-point tries, a segment of the fan base called for his release. The Ravens were dropping close games, and Tucker, so often the difference in Baltimore’s winning, became one of the main reasons the team was losing.
The Ravens stuck by the kicker, and he responded by making all five of his field goal attempts and all 23 of his extra-point tries over the team’s final six games. In the season-ending news conference a few days after the Ravens’ divisional-round playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills, DeCosta and Harbaugh indicated they expected Tucker to be their kicker.
“I think Justin’s going to go down as if not the best kicker of all time, one of the best, and I think he finished the season strong,” DeCosta said at the time. “We’ll have those discussions, but I have every expectation that Justin’s going to be a great kicker for us next year and moving forward.”
Then came the allegations. Tucker suddenly wasn’t just an older, well-compensated kicker coming off the worst season of his career. He was a player facing concerning and embarrassing accusations.
Ultimately, the Ravens felt they had no other choice but to move on.
(Top photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
