The Baltimore Ravens spent the 186th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Arizona kicker Tyler Loop. This, of course, will lead many to speculate what the future looks like for long-time Ravens kicker Justin Tucker now that the team actively drafted a kicker to join the team.
It's likely not a coincidence that the Ravens drafted a kicker for the first time ever considering that Tucker is coming off the worst season of his pro career. Tucker also was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by 16 massage therapists. The long-time Ravens kicker denied the allegations.
The poor performance in 2024 paired with the allegations shouldn't make the Ravens drafting a kicker any sort of surprise. If Tucker were still kicking at a high level, perhaps this wouldn't have happened but that's not the timeline we're in. His field goal percentage of 73.3 was the lowest of his 13-year career and the off-the-field issues won't make him someone the Ravens want to keep around if they don't have to.
Ravens might have just replaced Justin Tucker with late-round draft pick
With Tucker losing a step, the decision to draft a kicker was a wise one. With Loop, the Ravens are getting a kicker that went 18-of-23 on field goals last season and 23-of-25 on extra point attempts. For his career at Arizona, Loop had a field goal percentage of 83.8% and an extra point percentage of 98.4%.
Teams always want to try to stay ahead of the curve and bringing in kicker competition or a straight-up replacement for Tucker was the correct move for the Ravens. It was late in the draft and other teams were already starting to find kickers to add to their rosters, so why not take a late-round flier here?
We'll have to see how things play out with Tucker but if this is it, at least the Ravens have a new plan at kicker moving forward.