In January 2025, a report from the Baltimore Banner revealed that former long-time Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker had allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with 16 different massage therapists in the north-central Maryland area. Later that spring, the Ravens would release Tucker without addressing any of his off-field allegations, implying that his declining play — he hit roughly just 73 percent of his field goals during the 2024 season at the tender age of 35 — was the main reason the organization decided to move on.
When Tucker was subsequently suspended by the NFL for these heinous allegations over the summer, the writing was on the wall. Surely, a professional, multibillion-dollar sports league with principles and ethics wouldn’t welcome Tucker back in with open arms, especially not while his alleged crimes cast a dark shadow like a vicious, powerful thunderstorm over everything he does as a football player.
With Tucker’s suspension now over, take a wild guess as to which of the two main glaring downsides (his substandard play in his late 30s or his possible criminal conduct) presented by signing the kicker bothers prospective NFL teams less. Don’t worry. Take your time. I’ll wait.
(Loud whisper) Hint: It’s not the declining play.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, “several” (read: more than one) NFL teams are already showing interest in the disgraced Tucker. Wait. I suppose I should qualify that statement. Clearly, to anyone kicking the tires on Tucker right now, he is actually not disgraced. Saying otherwise would be charitable to Tucker’s current image. He is simply someone who can, potentially, help them win all-important football games that come above caring about people or even general, sensible optics.
Because when you can play football in the NFL, some craven, organizational leaders will waste no time overlooking (or … ignoring) any possible transgressions that would bother a normal person with a brain that has its neurons firing at a healthy rate and a heart that pumps red blood which transports oxygen.
To be clear, I’m not surprised that the NFL, of all leagues, would leave the door open for Tucker’s return. I’m not surprised that teams with kicking issues only see Tucker, the kicker, and not Tucker, the alleged reprehensible criminal. This isn’t a league built on those mentioned principles or ethics or any of the fancy social-contract mumbo jumbo that all of us regular Joes and Jills try to abide by in everyday life.
It never has been, and it probably never will be. Certain figures get a different set of rules. Certain situations are not nearly treated with the gravity they deserve.
Even still, there’s something extra disheartening about the reported interest Tucker is already garnering.
Under normal sweep-under-the-rug player circumstances, you’d at least expect said player to be good! You’d at least expect a team willing to employ a person accused of one of the worst crimes imaginable for someone who is a real difference-maker on the field! That’s not to say that selling your soul is OK under those parameters because it definitely still isn’t. But you’d think an NFL franchise — a beloved civic institution in its local city — wouldn’t willingly tarnish its reputation for someone who probably won’t even improve the team’s play!
Tucker isn’t good. It’s likely that he’s washed up and he’s got a ledger of accusations most people will rightfully never forget. Make it make sense. You can’t.
I suppose this is on me. I wasn’t exactly upholding the NFL as this terrific moral arbiter before hearing about this Tucker situation. I’m not stupid. You couldn’t sell me a bridge if you tried. But even I thought NFL executives wouldn’t be this harebrained with an absurd amount of tunnel vision for a kicker who can’t even play anymore. Even I thought there might be more tact in this kind of scenario. I was being way too kind.
It goes to show you that there never really is a rock bottom. It’s more like a never-ending abyss.
