It was easy to draw some major conclusions from the Baltimore Ravens' haul in the 2025 NFL Draft over the weekend. The way they began the draft was vintage Ravens.
Baltimore has always been about their defense and that didn't change as the team went with safety Malaki Starks and edge rusher Mike Green with their first two picks. You couldn't have planned for a better duo, to kick things off with, if you were Eric DeCosta.
As the draft went on, Baltimore added a ton of value and depth at various positions. But when it got to the sixth round, a startling decision was made.
It's not every day you're talking quite a bit about a kicker drafted in the sixth round, but in Baltimore's case, the attention is warranted. After selecting Tyler Loop out of Arizona, the Ravens sent a pretty strong message to veteran kicker Justin Tucker.
The Ravens finally took a step toward life after Justin Tucker
ESPN Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley included the kicker conversation in his major draft takeaways and gave a fairly blunt and obvious answer to the question, "what does this mean?"
"When the Ravens selected Tyler Loop in the sixth round, it was the first sign that Baltimore is preparing for life after Tucker," Hensley wrote.
Of course, we don't need to talk at length about why Tucker is going to be replaced. All of the off-field allegations and concerns still have yet to get sorted out, and out of respect to everybody involved in that situation, we'll leave those details alone.
In addition to the off-field apprehensions, Tucker simply wasn't that good last year. He has taken a significant step back since being viewed as the NFL's best at his position. The 5-time All Pro finished last season with a miserable 73.3 percent accuracy on field goal attempts.
Tucker also missed multiple extra points for the first time, ever, in a season.
It isn't hard to see the writing on the wall, and if a reporter like Hensley is putting a name on an opinion like this, Ravens fans should be preparing for their first season in a post-Tucker era.