ESPN personality Mina Kimes questioned why the Baltimore Ravens delivered a carefully worded statement addressing the release of kicker Justin Tucker.
Tucker is regarded as one of the best kickers in NFL history. On Monday, the Ravens announced his release, insisting the decision was purely for football reasons amid the NFL’s investigation into the allegations surrounding the kicker. Tucker has been accused of inappropriate behavior by Baltimore massage parlors. He has denied all allegations.
The Ravens, who selected kicker Tyler Loop in the 2025 NFL Draft, have decided to move on from the eight-time All-Pro, who was one of the highest-earning kickers in the NFL.
Having signed with the franchise as an undrafted free agent in 2012, Tucker departs Baltimore with his name imprinted in the history books. A member of the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team, he has made the longest field goal in NFL history at 66 yards while he has the highest career field goal percentage in NFL history, boasting 89.1 percent (min. 100 attempts).
The Ravens released a statement from executive vice president and general manager Eric DeCosta confirming Tucker’s release, which read: “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.
“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.”
Given the allegations concerning Tucker and the ongoing investigation, Kimes was confused by the sentiment of the statement. The ESPN star replied: “Was this tone necessary?”
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The Ravens have designated Tucker as a post-June 1 cut, which will $4.2 million in salary cap savings.
Last week, head coach John Harbaugh said of Tucker: “I would just say like, from the standpoint of the investigation and all that, we don’t know anything.
“We haven’t been given any information, as it should be. It’s all done the way it’s done. So we don’t know anything along those lines. So, we can’t make any decisions based on that. Every decision we make has to be made on football. There are a lot of layers to that.”
