The Baltimore Ravens decided to release long-time kicker Justin Tucker earlier this month as the NFL investigates him over several accusations of sexual misconduct.
With the Ravens opening up organized team activities (OTAs) this week, head coach John Harbaugh spoke about the move for the first time since it happened.
Harbaugh called the situation "complicated" and said that releasing Tucker was a "football decision," according to ESPN's Jamison Hensley.
"I mean, you're talking about arguably the best kicker in the history of the game," Harbaugh said. "And like we said, it's multi-layered [and] 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 you 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 to go. And that was the move that we decided to make."
"So in that sense, it's a football decision and now we have to spend all of our focus and our time to get these kickers ready," he added. "We've got a competition going on and [we've got to] get these guys ready to make kicks. So that's all I'm thinking about. From my perspective, it's like, 'We have to have a kicker out there making kicks,' and what's the best way to get that done?"
Tucker, who had his worst season as a pro in 2024, has denied any wrongdoing.
The writing was on the wall that Tucker might not be long for Baltimore after the team decided to draft kicker Tyler Loop in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL draft.
Baltimore also signed undrafted free agent out of Wyoming, John Hoyland, who will be the main source of competition for Loop, at least for now.
It wouldn't be shocking to see the Ravens add a more experienced kicker at some point to add to the competition.