Ravens draft kicker for first time amid Justin Tucker uncertainty

Brian Wacker, Baltimore Sun on Apr 26, 2025

Published in Football

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BALTIMORE — Justin Tucker is still a Raven. For how much longer remains to be seen.

On Saturday, Baltimore used a draft pick on a kicker for the first time in the organization’s history, selecting Arizona’s Tyler Loop in the sixth round.

The move comes as Tucker, 35, is being investigated by the NFL over sexual misconduct allegations brought against him by several massage therapists from numerous Baltimore-area spas. Tucker has denied the allegations and no criminal or civil actions had been filed against him.

Given that investigation and a potential suspension, the decision by the Ravens to choose a kicker with one of their 11 draft picks this year was not a surprise. Tucker is also coming off the worst season of his career after converting just 73% of his field-goal attempts in 2024.

“Obviously, there are a lot of layers to that whole conversation, but it’s something we would have to do no matter what,” coach John Harbaugh said at the NFL owners meeting last month. “At this point in time, you have to look. You always have to do your due diligence.”

Ravens senior special teams coach Randy Brown had also been traveling the country meeting with and working out kicking prospects in the weeks leading into the draft.

Loop, who has one of the strongest legs in this year’s class, was of course one of those kickers. He met with Ravens scouts at the Hula Bowl All-Star game in January. He met with Brown at the scouting combine in February. He continued to talk with Brown and exchanged film with him.

So when Miami’s Andres Borregales was selected 182nd overall by the New England Patriots, four spots ahead of where Baltimore was picking, the Lou Groza Award semifinalist had a feeling where he was about to go. Even before then he had an inkling, ordering a Ravens T-shirt a couple of days earlier that he wore during a call with reporters on Saturday.

“Oh dude, total elation getting the call,” he said. “I saw the area code come across my phone and I was like, ‘Let’s go, I’m going to Baltimore.' ”

When general manager Eric DeCosta was asked last week before the draft if it was “worth” using a pick on a kicker, he said it is if “you have the right kicker.”

“It depends on the player,” he said. “It depends who’s there. It depends on how your coaches see him.

“Also, it should be said that some of the greatest kickers of all time weren’t drafted, right?”

That, of course, includes Tucker, who is the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He joined the Ravens as an undrafted free agent out of Texas in 2012.

While it’s unclear when the NFL’s investigation into Tucker will conclude, or what, if any, punishment he will face, Ravens brass clearly felt that kicker was a position that needed to be addressed given the uncertainty surrounding Tucker.

In drafting Loop, the Ravens landed at least one of the best kickers in the draft.

An All-Big 12 honorable mention last season, Loop converted 18 of 23 field goal attempts and set a school record with a 62-yard field goal against Houston. For his career, he made 67 of 80 field goals to finish with the highest field goal rate (83.75%) in school history.

Loop also made 23 of 25 extra point attempts last year to go with 53 touchbacks on 56 kickoffs.

There’s a familiarity with Tucker as well.

Loop said that as a Texas Longhorns fan growing up, Tucker was one of his favorite kickers. So was Arizona alum Nick Folk.

“There’s elements of guys like that who’ve had success in the league and been regarded as elite placekickers in the NFL,” he said. “I admire a lot of parts of their games, but it’s one of those things, it’s like I’ve got things I can do to learn from them but I’ve also got my own style.”

He also said it’s not daunting either competing with or following in the steps of Tucker, who is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

“I think it’s really exciting more than pressure just because it gives you something to shoot for,” he said. “You always want to be improving, we always want to be chasing perfection.

“Getting to follow in the footsteps of a guy like that who’s been so elite and get to compete with him and maybe learn from him, that gets me fired up.”

Now the only question perhaps is when Baltimore will move on from Tucker.