Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the final exit of Justin Tucker and the many manueverings of the Baltimore Ravens’ OTA questions on – and off – the field as spring football practice heats up in Owings Mills before mandatory camp later in June.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Ravens’ OTA session, highlighting Lamar Jackson’s sharp performance and DeAndre Hopkins’ catches. They addressed the departure of Justin Tucker, noting his absence since allegations surfaced, and the team’s drafting of a kicker. They debated the NFL’s handling of Tucker’s case and the team’s response, emphasizing the need for a new kicker. They also discussed the team’s secondary, focusing on Malachi Starks and potential additions, and the importance of addressing weaknesses in the offensive line and defensive depth.
Luke Jones and Nestor discuss …ens OTA questions on the field
Thu, May 29, 2025 7:31AM • 46:51
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Justin Tucker, Ravens OTA, Lamar Jackson, DeAndre Hopkins, Mark Andrews, John Harbaugh, NFL investigation, kicker competition, Tyler Locket, John Hoyland, roster evaluation, secondary depth, offensive line, training camp, football season.
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SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tasks of Baltimore. We are Baltimore. Positive. I am wearing my curio purple because I don’t know the Orioles are in last place. And it’s the end of May. It’s not really football season, but it is. It is crab cake season. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland crab cake tour on Thursday of next week. On the fifth will be green mount station in Hampstead. I will have the Back to the Future scratch Austin, a big piece about a $2 million winner that ALMOST THERE WAS ticket away this week here in Maryland with my pal Seth Elkin. We’re also going to be at fade leaves on the 13th of June, and putting the whole summer schedule together. We’re going to be a lot of places, readers, crab house up in Reisterstown. I think we come to the Y at some point before it’s all over. So we’re doing some stuff this summer. Hang in there with us. The Ravens aren’t going to do much this summer. You know, the Justin Tucker question session occurred on Wednesday. Our Luke Jones was on the scene in Owings Mills to see Lamar Jackson throw the football around. Molokai Starks learning all the new numbers. How was your time in Owings Mills, where you’re invited, and I’m not, it
Luke Jones 01:08
was fine. I mean, as the first week of OTAs go, it was, you know, as far as the action on the field itself, attendance was great. Really, the only veteran that wasn’t there that really didn’t have a reason why. And keeping in mind, it’s voluntary, was basically Kyle van Noy. I mean, everyone else, there was an explanation. You know, a couple guys, you know, sick or banged up, couple younger players, sick or banged up, but it was really well attended. And do I think that’s meaningful in any way. No, is it better than the alternative? Sure, absolutely. So that was good to see. I mean, Lamar Jackson, sharp, for whatever that’s worth, on May the 28th DeAndre Hopkins made some catches. So that was fun to see. I think the biggest takeaway for me, as far as anything that happened on the field. Nestor adafe, always big like he he put on like 15 pounds of muscle. Big. His body type reminds me a little more of Terrell Suggs than kind of the skinny ADA Fauci away that we’ve come to come to be used to seeing over the last three, four years. So, you know, whatever that’s worth in terms of play on the field. Got a long way to go for that. But really the big headlines, as you mentioned, Mark Andrews spoke to the media, and John Harbaugh obviously spoke to the media, and was asked about Justin Tucker and, you know, I mean, talked about it being a complex decision that the entire ravens brass was involved in it’s everything you would expect to hear. If you’re not satisfied with how the Ravens handled it, you’re not going to be satisfied hearing that if you’re ready to move on from it, it was good enough to hear that you’re ready to move on from you know that you’re moving on from it. I’m sure they’re ready to move on from it. Oh, no, I but I mean, anyone like fans, whoever it is, they’re they haven’t even acknowledged the it, right? The it is the 16 women in the room, the it is their power, the it is the misogyny, the it is the potential crimes, and they want to run away from all that. I’m sure they do well, but they acknowledge it by the fact that Justin Tucker is no longer on the football team, right? I mean, ultimately, that’s what it
Nestor Aparicio 03:21
8comes well, you’re making a great defense for them in that way, right? But it’s the truth. So it’s the truth. I mean, he never kicked another game after those allegations. Correct, correct. And
Luke Jones 03:31
if this had never happened, Justin Tucker may have had competition this summer, I think I certainly would have bought that. And we talked about that possibility going back to what last October or November, but
Nestor Aparicio 03:42
he wouldn’t want to use the six round pick on it. I mean, either
Luke Jones 03:46
a six round pick or the rookie free agent, you like the best, like Justin Tucker, when he came in to compete
8Nestor Aparicio 03:51
with really upset with his kicking. And I’m sure they were, you know? I mean, I’m sure a concerned about his kicking, that I’m sure I think about his kicking, that a six round draft pick would have been Tyler loop, would have been appropriate competition for him, and say, Hey, we traded that vet, Vic, Vic, Vic kid years ago for a pick like if Kyler loops hitting 65 yarders and Justin Tucker sitting 66 charters. And you know we still like Tucker, because he’s Tucker, and he’s our Hall of Famer. He’s our goat. We’re going to keep him. They they cut six round drafts, pick number 181, every year. Well, that and
Luke Jones 04:27
that, but that’s also why I’ve said to you that I wouldn’t bet my mortgage at Tyler loops their kicker all year, right? Because it is only a six round pick, and they brought in John Hoyland, who, by the way, is wearing number five. Kind of funny to see that he also does not look like a rookie. He looks like he could be in his mid 30s. It just has, he has an older look to Him, even though he’s not old 186 that is no that. Well, that’s, that’s Tyler loop. I’m talking about the other guy they brought in, right? John Hoyland, so you know Tyler loops, wearing number 33 is a kicker. So can. Keep in mind the NFL a few years back, yeah, yeah, yeah, Priest, Holmes or somebody, right? So. But, I mean, it came down, I thought the most not revelatory, because I think we all figured what John Harbaugh was going to say. And to his credit, he did answer quite he didn’t just say, Oh, we put, Eric put out a statement three and a half weeks ago. We’re not saying anything. He did answer it, and he said, Look, this is multi layered. It’s complicated, but at the end, it 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, even if he didn’t go into those specifically, 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 That, to me, was as close as you’re going to get to the explanation for why months you leaned on the NFLs, you know, the pending investigation as far as how you were going to take your cues. But then you get to a point where you do draft a kicker, and I think we all are expecting some semblance of discipline for Justin Tucker from the league. I think right? I don’t think he’s going, I don’t think the league’s just going to say there’s nothing here. I’m guessing the Ravens at least got enough of a whiff of what the NFL has found. You know, in addition to the reporting that the banner did, that’s out there for everyone to read. And
Nestor Aparicio 06:24
that’s the kind of the curious part, where’s this NFL investigate, you
06:28
8know? And that’s the thing, but, but that
Nestor Aparicio 06:30
doesn’t even play in the league, and he’s not even on a team, right? So that’s
Luke Jones 06:32
where I look at this, and say they must have heard something from the league to to expect something, right? I mean, because then it does become strange that the league concludes and says there’s nothing to see here. This is all conjecture. We couldn’t prove anything. He’s not suspended. Then it does look strange three weeks
Nestor Aparicio 06:50
ago, since he’s been, since he’s been cut. Now, right? Yeah, like, literally, it’s been three weeks and change at this point, and the NFL hasn’t said anything, so I don’t
8Luke Jones 06:59
so, yeah. As far as the timing, I mean, you thought maybe before, you know, just like we were speculating whether he’d be cut the Friday before, how
Nestor Aparicio 07:06
much time is the NFL going to spend with $300,000 lawyers running around for a guy that’s not even in the league, like that’s
Luke Jones 07:14
although, I would say, you’ll find, and I check the NFL transaction wire on a daily basis, you’ll find players suspended all the time for for any number of reasons, you know, whether you’re talking about drug tests, other you’ll see that for guys that are free agents all the time. So that that part of it, it looks strange, just because this is a higher profile player, obviously, but, but that does happen a lot, and a lot of times it’s guys that get a suspension that you’ve never even heard of, that maybe didn’t even play in the league to, you know, if you’re anybody
Nestor Aparicio 07:43
8trying to sign him, or thinking, oh, I need a kicker, or we might bring him in, or we love to have a kicker of that caliber, or whatever the feeling is, you’re going to talk to the league first. I mean, there’s not going to be any he signed a deal with the bronco. There’s not gonna be any of that until they think so, they figure out what the crime is and what the punishment is, right? Yeah, but because,
Luke Jones 08:04
again, that that’s the part of Harbaugh’s statement on Wednesday that you are these guys are thinking about it in terms of football. That’s a that’s a big part of this. I’m not saying it should be the main part or the first part you’re thinking, but if he’s
Nestor Aparicio 08:19
going to be suspended for six games. We need a new kicker anyway, exactly, exactly. And that’s where you kind of look at this. This isn’t a running back where we have another one already, right? Literally. I mean,
Luke Jones 08:29
is there an argument to be made that? Well, you could carry a kicker on the practice squad. I mean, sure, in theory. But remember
8Nestor Aparicio 08:35
when they brought that guy from San Francisco to do kickoffs? Billick did that with us over Yeah, oh, I think of that guy’s name was probably, it was in the early aughts. I was maybe Oh 30405, somewhere in there. I’m
Luke Jones 08:47
trying to, didn’t wait. Are you thinking of Wade Richie? Wade Richie, thank you. I mean, they’ve had a couple guys, you know, they had a couple guys that were kind of in that, you know, because costover, for a number of years, didn’t do kickoffs. I mean, that’s, you know, they brought in Steve Hauschka to do that, and he eventually, you know, they tried to use him to replace him. Nick folk, Shane,
Nestor Aparicio 09:08
Graham, Aaron Elling, I’m just doing, you know, names of people that popped up. There are many. It’s a small list. To your point. Graham Gano, I don’t think ever kicked in a real game. He was only a pre off season in pre he never kicked in a game for them. So Wade Richie’s the guy I’m thinking of. Yeah, I think you’re thinking
Luke Jones 09:23
8about him, but, but yeah. I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 09:26
even if three and four he was on the team, even
Luke Jones 09:28
if the Ravens were determined to keep Justin Tucker, there was always going to be some process that involved the acknowledgement that he’s probably not going to be kicking for at least part of your seat, kick it in Buffalo week one. Yeah, I mean, but you know, whatever the timeline is, so, you know, and Harbaugh said, we’ve got a competition going on. We like these young guys, and that’s what my focus is going to they teach football players
Nestor Aparicio 09:53
out there, like socks every year, right? Like, this is just another, you know, they got rid of everybody. He’s just another guy. But I guess. For the fans and for the Royal farms chicken part, and for the beloved Baltimore care. And I, I never felt that way about Justin Tucker, but apparently your mother did, and your son, other women did, and people loved him, you know, so I don’t think it’s
8Luke Jones 10:17
it’s because he’s a great player. I mean, he was one of the greatest kickers of all time. It’s because he sang opera. It’s because he was on Royal farms commercials, right? I mean, I, I don’t think it, I don’t think it’s that like, like, the way you’re framing that there. It’s not that deep that my mom had a Justin Tucker jersey. It’s just she thought that the kicker was really good. He’s been here 13 years, right? Probably thought he was cute, like, you know, and I’m not speaking for that, because we it’s not like we’ve had an in depth conversation about it, other than just like, what happened not so much,
Nestor Aparicio 10:47
was called by journalists a month ago and said, What made him so popular? What made him so 13
Luke Jones 10:53
years? I mean, a lot of that’s just longevity after a while. I mean, that’s and
Nestor Aparicio 10:57
8below the NADA was popular. He just made chicken commercials. I mean, he’s the people real fine, like, I don’t know that he was, like, the most popular Raven, certainly in that era, part of being a team with Lamar Jackson and Ray Lewis and Earl Suggs and Joe Flacco. He, mean, there were a lot of plenty of other stars. I just never saw him as this. I saw him as a great kicker. I didn’t see him as an essential citizen or a cornerstone guy in the franchise. He’s a kicker. So I didn’t look at I didn’t look at him as like a Mount Rushmore guy in any way, the way I look at Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, even Shannon Sharpe and Robin Woodson. For the small period of time, I just felt like he’s a kicker, and now, now today, he’s just a kicker. They just need somebody else who’s a kicker, because that he’s just a player to the Ravens at this point, and that’s all he ever was. I think out there, I think the fans maybe loved him more than the people in the organization did, to some degree. But I, I’m fascinated by all of it. I mean, I just, I don’t know that anybody could have predicted the end for this, because I did think he was going to kick till he was 42 and I did think they would have a hard time cutting him like if he didn’t have these issues, that there was some affinity to holding him back because he’s been able to do something as a kicker that no one in the history of the game has been able to do in the history of the game.
Luke Jones 12:16
You just answered your own question there, as far as some of the reverence that maybe you couldn’t see individually. I mean, that’s the thing. It’s very, very unique talent in that way. I mean, and keep in mind, I mean, it’s hard to think about it now, because it’s over 15 years later. You know, Matt Stover as kickers go, was very, very popular in this town for a long time. It’s the longevity factor. It’s the fact that most teams go through kickers like you just made the the analogy as far as the roster, especially in the off season, it’s like you go through these guys, like their socks, and, you know, you throw out your socks that have holes in
Nestor Aparicio 12:52
them. Friends John Feinstein wrote a book, next man up.
Luke Jones 12:55
Yeah, but when you have a kicker like bat Stover, who does it for as long as he did, and then basically, three years later, you know, Justin Tucker’s in place that’s always
8Nestor Aparicio 13:07
miss a field goal to go to the Super Bowl, sure?
Luke Jones 13:10
Well, between, sure, sure. So, so again, that part of it, I mean, you’re, you’re a little more interested, I guess, in that part of it, I don’t think it’s that deep. I just think he was really, really good at his job. He had a quirky personality that, until all this came out, some people found endearing in terms of singing opera and things, things that you don’t expect from an NFL
Nestor Aparicio 13:31
player. I stood in that locker room and I watched him skip and sing out loud to no one other than me through the locker room. I saw that happen a half a dozen times. I mean, it was, he’s just a peculiar, peculiar cat, you know. But again, like,
Luke Jones 13:45
8I don’t, I don’t think it was anything that deep. Like I said, my mom had a Justin Tucker jersey, just because, oh, he was their kicker for a long time, and he was really good. And, you know, he sang opera and was perky or whatever. You know, it’s not, not that deep. I mean, you talk to some fans. I mean, the number, I could tell you long before I got into the media, how many jerseys I had. I had a lot like I was definitely that guy for, you know, in my teen years and early 20 I only know about your holodenada Jersey, yeah, so, so you know, so, but, but anytime you have something like this, and this is where the comps are similar with Ray Rice. I mean, the same thing with Ray Rice. The end is so abrupt. And I don’t mean the end from the time that you find out that there’s some misbehavior or some misconduct until the time they release them, I just mean until they’re just trucking along. I mean Ray Rice, he was, he was at very much, one of the faces of the franchise for them that met with corporate sponsors and was
Nestor Aparicio 14:44
the face he was that guy right face on a credit
Luke Jones 14:47
card, exactly. So. So when something like this happens and it I’m not making light of any of these things that happened, but there is a a jarring nature to that for anyone who wasn’t a. Aware of it. You know, for whether you’re a fan or just an observer or a sponsor, whatever it can be. So, so from that standpoint, I mean, in the same way, I mean, Ray Rice had a bad 2013 did anyone think that that was going to cost him his job alone? No. But then what happened in Atlantic City? Happened? Then you have you look through all that in a very different light, and more more specifically for the organization, when TMZ drops a video the day after the season opener, then boy, that the team knew about and tried, that they knew about it. No question, no question. But it’s still jarring for everyone else to see that, right. I mean, there’s still additional effort into hiding it, but, but it’s still jarring for everyone else to see that, right? I mean, it’s still so
Nestor Aparicio 15:43
so jarring. Part should be how sleazy the organizations are. That should really be the jarring part. That should be the jar. That should be the lead story, but it’s not. The lead story is all Tyler loops going to be the kicker. And I mean, the lead story, the lead story, should
8Luke Jones 15:55
be the bad behavior that that that individual did. I mean, Justin Tucker, the Ravens weren’t the ones accused of sexual misconduct by 16 different massage therapists. Justin Tucker was now our the ravens to do it. He’s an individual who he has the license to do that, right? I mean,
Nestor Aparicio 16:16
he deserves it first, then the Ravens. I’ll disagree with you on that point. Um, well, the Ravens aren’t gonna pay any penalty for this. Well, they didn’t really pay any penalty for Ray Rice. Did they? Nobody lost their job except Ray Rice. Oh, Kevin Byrne kept his job.
Luke Jones 16:32
Can we kingdom? And, I mean, can we move? Like,
Nestor Aparicio 16:36
8yeah, I was, that is the aftermath of it. The aftermath, yeah. I mean, I just, you know, we’ve talked about everybody’s experience, right? I mean, everybody’s expendable. There, yesterday was the day they had to answer questions about the kicker and and it’s over for them, right? As I, as we said, this will probably be the last time we talked about it, unless the NFL puts a suspension on them, and I guess we’ll have to come back and and talk about it. That’s what the Ravens want, though. Luke, the Ravens want us say that was an isolated thing that they had. They they couldn’t have known. They hadn’t have known, and they cut him. And what more you want him to do? Next question, let’s talk football. Can I
Luke Jones 17:11
ask you? And can I can I ask you a final question? Sure, what? What should they have done? Very, very directly, I’m asking you, what should they have done? Um,
Nestor Aparicio 17:21
well, cut him right, okay. I mean, no, whether or not I think my question is a journalist is how much they knew over the last 10 years because of how many people that have come up to me and said, and I also want to know about them taking their massage in house 10 years ago? Um, there. There’s some complicity inside that building over the last 10 years to keep him as the kicker. But would you have cut him the day that the similar than Ray Rice? Um, if I’m somebody in the building that knew it was true and knew that the allegations were there, and knew that I probably was a part of like, Hey, I heard about that. I know about that. I know one of those women. I know when I know, I know, I know, I know if everybody in the building was as dumb as I was, right? Because, I mean, I guess I was the dumb one, and no one in the building really knew. But no one in that building has any integrity. That’s why you were in the building yesterday, and I wasn’t in the building yesterday. So I do carry that cross. I was a media member for 24 years, so as facing straight, they are sleazy people. You’ve seen this in action. You’ve seen it personally in Florida last year, them running from questions, running from allegations, running from accountability. And that’s Mark. Mark Andrews still yesterday, I, you know, I didn’t watch the presser. I don’t, I don’t care so much about what these people say, just the fact that they show up and say it, and then when they say it, it has some semblance of merit, credibility, accuracy, truth, right? Like that is my job as the media member that they don’t want me to perform any longer. Um, so I would say, Who pits the fan I’m sitting at Pizza, John’s, whatever that Thursday was, whatever that day was back in January. I would think, if I’m the if I own the team, and I sort of sniffed out that this was a problem over the last 10 years. And people know about this, and we don’t really like his kicking, which is what they’re saying today. Anyway, he hadn’t done anything since buffalo. He kicked the ball for them since they lost right? So if they were going to move on from him as a kicker and draft someone else anyway, and do it the way they’ve done it, man, they could have gotten rid of him in February, and that would have been that would have been like, Hey, we’re moving on. It’s a football decision. He didn’t kick great. I don’t care about it. La, la, la. And all this allegations in the NFL. Let the NFL investigate this. We’re out. We’re out. We went through Ray Rice. We’ve had that creepy kid around here for 12 years. We sort of knew he was a little weird. We heard these allegations. I. I’ve heard enough. I’ve seen enough. Seven allegations credible newspaper, hey, Chad, you might want to get on the phone with him and his douche bag agent and tell them not to be putting out Instagrams putting hits out on the Baltimore banner reporters who just want a Pulitzer. That’s probably not the way we that Justin should go about that on behalf of the Ravens as a raven. So you know, if you want to drag me into it and get me, get me angered on behalf of their sleaziness, and the way that Chad Steele runs the place, the way Bucha D allows it be run, the way that Sashi brown sanctions it to be run, and the way John Harbaugh and Eric Decosta are lacking accountability. Quick to run from it, quick to move to football, and at this point, quick to move on. And you’re quick to accept that, and that’s okay, but I’m not because of Ray Rice. I’m not because I’ve seen what they’ve done to my press credential, and so have you. So I know what kind of people they are, and I don’t think in any way that building didn’t know about these rumors. I, I, I cannot believe that Eric Decosta moves around the city and did not hear the rumor. Just talking to work for me, works for him, worked for him. So if you’re asking what I think the Raven should do the minute one of my employees is accused of that kind of stuff on a Thursday. By Monday, I better have it sorted out in one way or another. Justin, get in here, sit down. We’re good. I mean, if I’m a school, if you were a school teacher and this went on, you would have been sitting with the principal, would have been sitting with the board, quickly, with your lawyers, quickly, not three, four months out, we got plenty of time. It’s the off season. Let’s let it sit. Let’s like, let’s let the NFL investigator look better that way, because that way it looks like, you know, our hands are short. I don’t this does not reflect well upon the Ravens. None of this does. I never said
Luke Jones 21:58
it did. I’m just saying. I’m not, I’m not going to blame the Ravens before Justin Tucker. Justin Tucker deserves the most plan. Justin Tucker 100 excuse to this. And that was the point I was trying to make. So but
8Nestor Aparicio 22:09
it’s the power that the Ravens give him behind it that allowed this to occur.
Luke Jones 22:16
I mean, I would just say power in general, of someone that’s a public figure. I don’t think that’s specific to the Ravens. That that notion. I think that’s any public figure, whether you’re talking about a professional athlete chicken ads. He’s a public figure because he he plays in the national he does something prominent and is well compensated to do it and his front and he’s got
Nestor Aparicio 22:35
Bill Cosby working for himself in Paramount and picture to picture, he’s working for an illegal NFL entity in a city, in a community that he allegedly represents, whatever you think he represents, wholesomeness, white kickers from Texas, singing opera, men, guys with pretty wives, guys who are the best kicker, whatever that thing that makes him what He it gave him the power to do some really awful stuff, and all the Ravens have the power to do that in lots of ways. I’ve seen it free meals, let me in the club like whatever that status celebrity thing is, but it it shouldn’t be paired with being able to punch your wife in a glass elevator and still play football. It shouldn’t be paired with being able to go around and lay on massage tables and what all the allegations, I’ll just throw it all in. I know it makes you very uncomfortable, but yeah, I’ve already, I mean, we, yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m underwhelmed by John Harbaugh as a leader, and in general, I’m underwhelming Shadi as an owner. I’m really underwhelmed by Eric Decosta as a an accountability guy, because I know him personally, because I’ve spent hundreds of hours with direct to Costa talking about things like character, decency, credibility, community, like all of that we’ve talked about all of that. I don’t think that matters to Chad Steele. He’s just a higher gun who came in here and, you know, works in Baltimore, and works, works for the shield and plays the military role. But all that being said, this isn’t gonna affect their tickets. And I knew that the day it happened, right? And it didn’t matter whether they cut them February 10 or may 10, that they they’re, they are. They have the power as an organization, the Teflon you speak of, they’re the most powerful, the most watched all that. Justin Tucker’s the beneficiary of that when he’s rolling some woman at the end of massage, pulling out the power play, and any other guy, and I know you’ve never had a massage, could expect to get their ass kicked instantly, instantly in a massage parlor with that happening, and the cops waiting at the door when you put your clothes on and you walk out of the little room, like, seriously, like, just wouldn’t do it. And he did it, allegedly, 16. Times, or actually more, because I, I’ve talked to the reporters there. There were some, some women that came forward. So I, I’ll tell you what happened, but I don’t, I don’t want to be a number, so it’s disgusting. So if it’s the last time we talk about it, and John can do the papal wave, and you as a reporter can say, Hey, man, I’m just done with it. I’m I’m sick of it. Well then if you’re sick of it and I’m sick of it. We’re sick of it. Bal will never talk about it because they are not allowed to talk. Kirk. McEwen cannot have a conversation about Justin Tucker’s massage habits. You can keep his gig. So that’s the way this works. And then we get the baseball how the baseball machine has worked here the last 10 days, since they fired their manager. It’s just not, it’s not just not what I grew up with, Luke as a journalist, as we bury Jim Henneman today, right? Like it’s not just what I grew up with. It’s just what was expected of sports franchises moving around the small city with Brooks and Boog and Frank and, you know, like and Johnny you and art Donovan and Lenny Moore. Like it doesn’t make me old fashioned. I mean, dude, don’t break the law. Don’t be an asshole, you know? I mean, this isn’t, this isn’t rocket science a lot. Justin Tucker’s made $70 million in this community, kicking the football, pointing the finger at the journalist. Five minutes after the story happened, I just it just it’s as sleazy as it gets. It just is. And I’m a journal, a former journalist. I’m not a real journal. I’m a comedian. Now I’m working on my comedy. You’re a journalist because you’re not credentialed. That’s not what makes you a journalist. That’s what makes me a journalist. I think for the people who still think I’m a journalist, that’s exactly what makes me one is the fact that they don’t want me out there asking questions about Justin Tucker and asking questions specifically about what they knew the last 12 years. Because that is the story. To me. The story isn’t whether he did it or did it. They got rid of him. The league’s in there’s 16 women. He did it now, what they did about it, how they handled it? How did they handle it? 2018 and 19 to 20 and 21 and 22 at 23 at 24 they’re just like, hey, just like, hey. Like, there’s just rumors. Why would I want to look into my employees? You know, issues they had that they had that issue with a player showed up drunk at my show who’s no longer on the planet. I mean, their HR out there is weak, Eric Decosta, weak, you know, the the whole scenario. Ben Cleveland, three months ago week, they drafted a kid who got thrown out of the University of Virginia on a zero tolerance policy. Their zero tolerance policy said, well, let’s draft that kid. Let’s open that can of worms. So that’s, that’s, this happened four weeks ago. So there, there’s no what did we learn here? Eric and John and Steve? What we learn is cover shit up and so you don’t have to. And then caught him and get the league in to investigate it. And all was good, get it, draft another kicker, and tell Luke and Jameson and Dre back in the rest of the reporters. Hey, no more questions. He didn’t even play here anymore. Can’t answer any questions
Luke Jones 27:58
8about that. Let’s, let’s talk about time. He was asked multiple questions about Justin Tucker,
Nestor Aparicio 28:03
but he won’t be any Wednesday. He won’t be anymore. He won’t be. You think if Luke misses a kick, maybe in week two or something? No, they’re not going to ask. I mean, what else do? There’s nothing like that in a podium John Harbaugh or air podium. Did you ever hear any whispers as an organization, that any of there’s anybody in your building on a Bible in front of your God, John, the God that you talk about all the time and pray to, and in that setting, John fellowship, a Christian athlete. Setting, was there ever any whisper for you or anyone in the brass of this, or any of the women in the organization, any of the men in the organization, any of the people in the organization. Was there ever a whisper that this was an issue? I’ve had dozens of people come up to me in the last 90 incredible people. I mean, what do
Luke Jones 28:59
you how do you think they’re going to answer that? Whatever the answer is, though, oh, you know what I mean. I mean, I’m just saying, like you can ask the question, that doesn’t mean you’re going
Nestor Aparicio 29:08
to get the answer. Ray Rice, and I know how I’ve been treated personally. I’m in on this. I’m in on the soup. They’re all in my phone. I know these people. No one in the audience does I do and I know how dishonest they are, that’s all, and that’s why I’m wearing a curio purple Jersey, and not the holodenada jersey or the Joe Flacco jersey that I have in my closet at this point. Lucas here with the football side. Let’s, let’s jump the shark on this. They aren’t playing for four months. We might as well do this. Anything that sets out to you to be like the offensive line to me, and the rotation of the secondary, what they’re trying to do, and even Chuck pagano is interesting to me, being involved in this as a series secondary guy for a long, long time, as to what that will look like in a perfect world in their mind. Nine. I mean, they’ve already lost one of their really key guys on the back end, and are Darius Washington, we talked about that a couple weeks ago. That’s a significant thing for them. That’s a that’s a piece, that’s 5060,
8Luke Jones 30:08
snaps a game. Yeah, no question. And it puts more pressure on your first round pick. I mean, Malachi Starks, if you look at the composition of their roster right now, and at some point between now and week one at Buffalo, I expect them to add a veteran safety to the mix in the way that they signed Eddie Jackson, what was that right before training camp last year didn’t work out, but the intent was pretty clear when they signed him to be their third safety. But in the meantime, Malachi Starks, he’s working with the starting defense. I mean, what else you gonna do? You gonna put Sanusi Kane there. You’re gonna put Beau braid there. I mean, he’s the guy next to Hamilton right now. So there was a little bit more of a runway and a safety net when he’s the number three safety. And you have our Darius Washington that you one, he played very well last year. And two, you’re in a spot where you can kind of pick your spots with Starks as far as, okay, what does he do best? Where are we going to put him? When we go three safeties, that drops Hamilton down to the nickel, do we use Malachi Starks as the nickel sometimes? Though, are we going to use Washington? Right? It goes back to that
Nestor Aparicio 31:12
position. Malachi Starks be the kind of player that Kyle Hamilton
Luke Jones 31:15
is. I mean, he’s he’s not, he’s not as dynamic in terms of the fact that Kyle Hamilton six foot four, and this physical freak built more like a linebacker, yeah. I mean, Malachi Starks is more okay, you know, he’s built more like a convention. You know, he’s 61203, which, by the way, is good size for a safe point
Nestor Aparicio 31:37
8guard and and
Luke Jones 31:41
small forward, I mean, maybe even a power forward. I mean the way he plays, but, but so you’re in a position where he has to develop more quickly. Now, the good thing about the timing of this, and by the way, our Darius Washington has vowed to John Harbaugh, he’ll be back by November. If you look at the timing, could our Darius Washington be back in the mix in some capacity come December. We saw Terrell Suggs tear his Achilles at a very similar time in the calendar, and he was back in October. Now, lots of people wondered at the time, how the how in the world, did he do that? But he was back in October. So it’s not a guarantee that ardarius Washington doesn’t play in 2025 but you can’t count on that, and he’s certainly not going to be ready for the first half of the season. So but, but with the timing of this, you’ve got the entire spring schedule you’ve had, you had the entire summer to work this out and to look at him and evaluate him and see what he does best at this point in his career, see what he might have a little more difficulty with. And yes, you can use that information to help drive whoever you’re going to bring in now. They could bring in a safety later today, right? I mean, you could be getting the wnst text alert that they’re bringing back someone like Chuck Clark, just to throw a name out as set someone’s familiar with. I’m not saying it would be Clark himself, but, but in the meantime, you know he’s the guy, so they’ve got to figure that out. It means they’re probably looking at using more three corner nickel alignments. So that means more for a woozy a that means more for Jalen armor Davis. That means more for TJ Tampa. In terms, can
Nestor Aparicio 33:18
I ask you about TJ Tampa? Because he’s a name that, like, they’ve drafted other guys in the secondary that I think they want to be the next Brandon Stevens, or they want to be the next our Darius Washington. I don’t know. This is the time here that happens, right? And if they go to the market and get a chuck Clark, a veteran safety, a guy who’s been in the league a little bit, and they’ve done this with all sorts of players. They did this with Chris Carr many years ago. Like, there’s a lot of players that bang around as third or fourth safeties or depth pieces in the secondary, I’d love to over the next four weeks, while they’re getting together and throwing heads here figuring out, like, do they have that guy already, or do they need to go to market to get that guy in many, many cases. And this is, like, the last decade, right? Maybe even a decade since Harbaugh’s been here, really, they’ve not had the pass rushers they won. They’ve always had to go out and get a van Noy Clowney. It could bring Clowney back. I mean, that’s a possibility at this point. That’s been a position, and the D line, even when they went and got to mod apeca, and, you know, they bring in these Michael Pierce coming back, and Brent urban comes back, and, you know, all of these Peace guys that they bring in the safety thing and the secondary, because there has been so much focus from you for years before Marla Humphrey was drafted. But for you, for years in the secondary they have put draft capital into that position. It hasn’t worked out, like with TG Tampa being hurt last year and stuff. But I always feel like they’re going to market, they’re going to market, they’re going to market, they’re going to go get a chuck Clark and and you bring up all these names, and they’re just name salad, you know, this time of year, but they’re not on draft day when they get drafted. And you’re thinking. Saying, well, they drafted that guy thinking they can get him on the field. This is the time of the year where that step gets made, so that they don’t go out June 15 and spend a month in the summer thinking, well, we got to get better there. There’s we’re going to be looking for cuts. We’re going to be looking for other teams. We’re going to have George cookin is looking pro personnel off the edge of everybody’s roster. We’re gonna have to watch all these god awful preseason games and look at who’s going to get cut and who can come in and help us. If it’s a weakness, I don’t know that it’s a weakness. I don’t know that any of these maybe the offensive line, because of McCary, you know, is a real weakness to think like there’s still a player out there they’re going to sign. But I think the rest of the rosters, I look through it, they got a lot of draft picks in a lot of places, people that they identify and like in their system. This is the time they coach him up and say, next couple weeks, hey, that kid’s coming back in July for camp. He’s going to make the team, you know? I mean, then that’s the feeling they try to give you this time of year, I think, is media, right? Yeah.
Luke Jones 35:57
I mean, to your point about the roster, anything we’re talking about are relative weaknesses. I mean, you can even go look at other contenders in this league and find definite weak spots. I mean, in the terms we talked about the offensive line a year ago compared to now, it’s night and day, right? It really is, because, you know, Roger Rosengarten looks like he can at least be a solid to Above Average, if not better than that kind of right tackle, whereas a year ago, he was just her second round rookie, right so you have that you’ve had a year of fall lay, lay, regardless of how anyone perceives him, he did it right. He did it at a starting caliber level. Now, at times it looked average or below average, or you’re kind of wondering, but he did it well enough to think, Well, he did it. And they were won the Division, and they were drop pass away in Buffalo from forcing overtime, right? So, so, so you look at those spots differently. At left guard, you know, Andrew Voorhees is the favorite. Ben Cleveland, will be in the mix. They have some other guys that will be in the mix there. I mean, including their third round pick, Emory Jones, who just recovering from a shoulder issue now, but should be ready for training camp. So, but one spot on your own line, Nestor, I’d venture to guess. And I’m I’m doing this off the top of my head right now, like, like, I’m just throwing us out there, but I would feel that confident name me five teams in the league that have their five, their starting five set on the O line, no questions asked. Like, I’m not sure there are five teams that don’t have at least one spot that would be some kind of competition, a question someone you’d like to upgrade from. I mean, it’s just, you know, the 93 cowboys don’t exist anymore in terms of offensive lines being that amazing, where it’s just like, hey, it’s the same starting five. Three of them are in the Pro Bowl. The other two are above average. I mean, no one has an offensive line like that.
8Nestor Aparicio 37:52
With the offensive line with the ravens, it’s so unique, not unique as much anymore, because other quarterbacks run. There’s other quarterbacks that play this style. I mean, Lamar but, but there is a different style of our deodorize
Luke Jones 38:02
Yeah, Lamar. And Lamar deodorizes so much of that, right? I mean, even times when he, when the the offensive line surrenders pressure, Lamar gets away from it anyway, right? So, so you just look at it through that lens, but, so you know that would get Joe Flacco killed in Cleveland, right? Sure. No question. You know Joe Flacco or Tom Brady or guy you know, Guy Peyton Manning, guys that didn’t really move around. So, so it’s always different through that lens. So the roster is very good. Are there spots that they can improve? Yes, of course. And you know, this is where I’ll pivot back to, you know, the defense, because you had brought up the defense, you know, they are in a position right now where you’re finding out about Malachi Starks in terms of how much he can handle right now. You want to find out about these young corners. Jalen armor Davis, not so much. You know. He’s in the final year of his rookie deal, off injured. I think they’ve always liked his talent, but he just hasn’t been able to stay on the field. But TJ, Tampa is an interesting name, not that they need him to play week one, because at this point you look at their corners right now, Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins are the starters, and then you’ve brought in a woozy a as your veteran number three, but a Wooz a has an injury, Injury history, and you’ve got to acknowledge that. So that’s where you look at TJ Tampa and say, Okay, how are you looking right now, you’re number four on our depth chart, you know, in terms of our corners top to bottom. Can you look like do you look like a guy that is trending upward? Do you look like a guy who, if he needs to play in sub packages, because we get a game day injury? Can you handle that?
Nestor Aparicio 39:34
That’s not the same entry issue with the Uzi, a Tampa, had a history injury last year, right? Oh, he did. Yeah. I
Luke Jones 39:40
8mean, he was his injury. He had a sports hernia in the off season, and then what, he had an ankle, I guess it was during the season. So, yeah, but he’s got to develop. I mean, it doesn’t mean that that’s what is going to be him every year now, but a lot of that with young players. It’s why. David ajabo, it’s been. And so such a disappointment with him. Not I mean, the per the lack of production is one thing, but the the injuries that he had his first couple years, it’s not just that. He didn’t play in those games. He didn’t practice, right? He didn’t get that time on task. I mean, he any to become good at anything. You need time on task to practice, what 10,000 hours, or whatever, you know the the mindset is. And when you have young guys that miss that much time, it’s not just, oh well, they only played in three games. It’s also they only practiced X number of times over the course of their rookie year. So it someone like Tampa is a perfect example of they drafted him in the fourth round. They clearly liked him. When you’re drafting a guy in the fourth round, you don’t have designs that he’s definitely going to become a starter, but you’re thinking he has some starter potential a couple years down the road, but he’s got to develop. He’s got to develop, and he’s got to go contribute on special teams in the meantime, and you have to see where he is. So yeah, this time of year, when we were talking late May and June, and then the first couple weeks of training camp, they want to see if TJ Tampa can be a number four corner, and if he can, then great. If not, then we might be talking about them adding another corner at some point in time, right? Just knowing what you have and knowing a wuzier has an injury history as well. So, but this time of year, you’re figuring that all out. We know the roster is flu is definitely fluid this time of year. We understand that because of some of the edge rushers that you just stated, which, like I mentioned in passing today, beyond cloudy, could be back with the Ravens at some point in time. I mean, I if he’s probably not going to sign until training camp, that’s generally been how he’s handled things. So there’s still that. But in the meantime, you’re evaluating all these young guys, and even though OTAs, I’m the first one to make fun of it at this point in time, in terms of, you know, I don’t care what stats are during OTAs, I don’t, you know, observations are nice, but they don’t really mean anything. I could tell you guys that were great this time of year, guys that were bad this time of year, and then it didn’t mean anything come the regular season. But you’re still evaluating. You’re still looking and you want to see flashes, you know, you want to see TJ Tampa look like, oh, you can line him up on the outside. And you know, if Nate Wiggins or Marlon Humphrey goes down, then this guy could probably fill in at least for that week and do an okay job for you. So, you know, you want to start getting an idea of that. And you know, for these young guys, it’s just getting on the field and kind of seeing what it looks like. And now, with OTAs having started and having the veterans out there, you can kind of see what they look like against other veteran players. You know, I always laugh rookie camp and seeing what that looks like the weekend after the draft, compared to even now starting to see OTAs. It’s night and day rookie camp. Malachi Starks move differently than everyone else. Mike Green moved differently than everyone else, because you have a bunch of guys on that field that are tryout guys that are never going to step foot on an NFL practice field again, and you have other guys that are going to be, you know, that are rookie free agents that are going to go through this the next few months, and then they’re going to be gone, and they’re going to be playing in the UFL or Canada later on this fall. But, you know, you get to this point in the year where you do have the vets out there, and even if they’re not going full speed, you can start to evaluate a little more. So, you know, I think this roster, this is, you know, you’ll hear John Harbaugh or Eric Acosta say right now, you’re, you’re not playing any games right now, but if we had to line up and play a game on Sunday, we could, I think this team absolutely is in that position right now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make Steelers right now. Yeah, exactly. I mean.
Nestor Aparicio 43:41
And you know what, I’m glad you because that’s better than the browns, where I see Joe Flacco talking about mentoring five quarterbacks in
Luke Jones 43:47
a room. I mean, man, we used to joke, if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. I mean, what do you say about the browns? When you have five quarterbacks, you have none. But you know, I just the Ravens. That’s why I don’t bristle. That’s not the right term. But, you know, I, earlier this week, I did a radio hit, a guy in Jacksonville, Ryan green, you know, I’m his ravens guy. He was doing an AFC North preview. And I get asked this question a lot. You know, what’s it going to take for the ravens to get over the hump in January? It’s not a specific roster spot or a specific position, or it’s not what their attendance is at OTAs or or mandatory mini camp. It’s whatever they’ve been in the same spot over and over and over, whether it’s the divisional round or the AFC Championship game, you know specifically the last two years. It there’s no silver bullet. It’s just, how do you slow the heartbeat down enough in those moments that your guys aren’t making critical mistakes? This year, it was Andrews, you know, two years ago, you know, Lamar had multiple turnovers, right? Zay flowers had to fumble across the goal. Line against Kansas City. How do you stop those things from happening? There’s no simple answer for that. That’s a, that’s a sports psychology question there, if anything, right? And I’m not saying that they need sports shrinks in Owings Mills, but, you know, I just, I just kind of laugh when I hear people, you know, DeAndre Hopkins was a great example. DeAndre Hopson is a perfectly fine signing. You know, I like that signing at $5 million I thought it was a good value. But is am I going to point to that and say, Oh, that’s the missing link for them to win in January? No, I don’t think. I don’t that would imply that they weren’t good enough the last few years they they’ve been good enough on paper to win maybe three Super Bowls at this point in this era on paper, but you don’t win games on paper. You’ve got to do it in the fourth quarter in Buffalo. You’ve got to do it against Kansas City in the second half, and that’s where they’ve come up short. So the roster is fantastic overall. You know, relative to other teams, safety, corner, Edge rusher, left guard. These are positions of interest that they’ve got to sort through their depth and everything. But, you know, they could go out there and play right now, and you’d have them favored against all but a couple teams in the entire league. And, you know, but that’s the same space they’ve been in for a long time. It’s all about January. And you know, those answers we’re not going to find as they’re running around in shorts in late May and early June.
Nestor Aparicio 46:27
All right, our next conversation about the National Football League in the Ravens will be in the least in the month of June. We’re almost getting there. They do have new kickers, they have new safeties. They have all sorts of things going on. Luke will be chronicling that, because it’ll be a lot more interesting than the baseball team has been. I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive on a spring sort of weekend. Come on, sunshine. You.
