Deadspin | Ravens unlock Okay Justin Tucker

The Baltimore Ravens launched embattled kicker Justin Tucker, who’s coming off the worst season of his profession amid a sexual misconduct allegation through the league.

“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,” Ravens government vice chairman and basic supervisor Eric DeCosta stated in a commentary Monday.

“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.”

Tucker, 35, is a seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro first teamer who’s coming off the worst of his 13 seasons, all with the Ravens. His problems transcend the sphere, then again.

He is accused of enticing in irrelevant habits with a number of feminine therapeutic massage therapists. Sixteen girls have accused Tucker of misconduct at 8 high-end spas within the Baltimore house from 2012-16. Tucker has two times publicly denied the allegations.

Team president Sashi Brown had prior to now stated the Ravens would no longer come to a decision on Tucker’s long term with the group till the NFL’s investigation was once entire.

However, the Ravens then spent a sixth-round pick out in closing month’s draft on former Arizona kicker Tyler Loop, making Tucker’s long term in Baltimore appear much less positive.

Loop kicked for the primary time on the group’s facility in Owings Mills, Md., on Sunday, when the Ravens started their rookie minicamp. Tucker was once figuring out and training kicking on the Ravens’ facility during the last couple of weeks.

Harbaugh was once requested on Sunday how the group will deal with the kicker pageant between the veteran and the drafted rookie.

“Every decision we make has to be based on football,” Harbaugh stated. “There’s a lot of layers to that. You’ve got a rookie kicker and here you took him in the sixth round, early in the sixth round. He’s a talented guy. Just from a football standpoint — salary cap, all the different things that you just take into consideration — whatever we decide to do over the next few weeks will be based on football.”

Baltimore may just acquire $4.2 million in wage cap area this yr, ESPN reported, if Tucker is designated as a post-June 1 reduce, which splits $7.5 million in useless cash over two seasons.

Tucker, an undrafted unfastened agent out of Texas in 2012, has grow to be the league’s all-time chief in field-goal accuracy, making 89.1 % of his kicks. But he made a career-low 73.3 % (22 of 30) closing season and was once simply 11 of 19 from 40 or extra yards.

–Field Level Media