Nearly eight weeks after the Ravens released longtime kicker Justin Tucker in the aftermath of multiple allegations of past sexual misconduct coming to light, the NFL has taken further action.
On Thursday, the league announced the seven-time Pro Bowl kicker has been suspended for the first 10 weeks of the 2025 regular season for “violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.” Tucker, 35, does not need to be under contract with a team to begin serving his suspension on Aug. 26 and to be eligible for reinstatement on Nov. 11. Tucker is still permitted to sign with any team and may take part in training camp as well as preseason games.
The initial Baltimore Banner report of six massage therapists making allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior was released on Jan. 30 with Tucker immediately responding with a statement calling the claims “unequivocally false” and describing the reports as “desperate tabloid fodder.” To this date, 16 Baltimore-area massage therapists have accused Tucker of sexual misconduct from 2012-16.
“We are disappointed with the NFL’s decision,” Tucker’s agent Rob Roche said in a statement released to multiple outlets. “Justin has always strived to carry himself in a way that would make his family and community proud. He stands by his previous statements. In order to put this difficult episode behind him and get back on the field as soon as possible, we have advised Justin to accept this resolution and close this matter. The people who know Justin best know his character and understand that while he remains fully committed to excellence as a football player, he is deeply dedicated to his most important lifetime roles as a father, husband, and friend.”
Tucker’s suspension comes roughly three years after Cleveland quarterback Deshaun Watson was banned 11 games and fined $5 million as part of a settlement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association stemming from more than two dozen women accusing Watson of sexual misconduct during massage sessions.
Upon releasing Tucker on May 5, general manager Eric DeCosta called the “football decision” to release the 13-year kicker “incredibly difficult” while citing the “current roster,” alluding to the Ravens taking Arizona kicker Tyler Loop in the sixth round of the 2025 draft. The organization’s statement made no mention of the allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against the once-celebrated kicker.
The Ravens brass had repeatedly stated the organization would defer to the league’s ongoing investigation before making any decision about Tucker’s future, but that tone changed after Loop’s selection with the 186th overall pick on April 26. The day before Tucker was released, head coach John Harbaugh said “whatever we decide to do over the next few weeks would be based on football.”
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“It was a complex decision-making process. … You’re talking about arguably the best kicker in the history of the game,” Harbaugh said on May 28. “Like we said, it’s multi-layered. It’s complicated, but in the end, it all comes back to what you have to do to get ready for your team to play the first game, and I think if you step back and take a look at all the issues and all the ramifications, you can understand that we’ve got to get our football team ready, and we’ve got to have a kicker ready to go. That was the move that we decided to make, so in that sense, it’s a football decision.”
Though still the most accurate kicker in NFL history and the record holder for the longest field goal in league history at 66 yards, Tucker is coming off the worst season of his career. He missed a career-high eight field goals and made just 73.3% of his field goal attempts in 2024, but he was able to right himself down the stretch, making every kick he tried over the final four regular-season games and Baltimore’s two playoff contests. That prompted DeCosta to say the week before the allegations surfaced that he had “every expectation that Justin’s going to be a great kicker for us next year and moving forward.”
While Loop is considered the favorite to open the season as Baltimore’s new kicker, the 23-year-old will compete with fellow rookie John Hoyland in the preseason.
