The Kicker Who Fell From Grace

Justin Tucker, the Hall of Fame, and a Silence That Speaks Volumes

The last time the Baltimore Ravens stepped on a football field when it counted, they walked off as losers to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Tyler Loop’s failed FGA from 44 yards cost the team a trip to the playoffs and arguably, it cost jobs. How Loop recovers from the miss remains to be seen. Baltimore witnessed another stunning miss over a decade earlier, courtesy of Billy Cundiff in the 2012 AFC Championship Game. Cundiff never recovered. Hopefully Loop will.

Tyler Loop misses from 44

The Steelers are headed to the playoffspic.twitter.com/wDOZfs3uR7

— Underdog NFL (@UnderdogNFL) January 5, 2026

Following that miss in the AFCCG, the Ravens invited an undrafted kicker from the University of Texas to camp in 2012. Justin Tucker wasn’t expected to make the team. After all, Cundiff had just signed a 5-year, $14.7M contract in 2011. But as they’ve often done, a second kicker was invited to share kicking duties during camp. Perhaps the Ravens wanted an insurance policy just in case the ghosts of that shank in Foxboro haunted Billy.

Cundiff had a very good camp in 2012. However, Tucker was flat out flawless. He would not be denied and probably to both their surprise and delight, the Ravens took the cap hit on Cundiff’s deal in exchange for a phenom who was sensational for over a decade. Maybe the Ravens should bring in some competition for Loop but that’s another story for another day. But back to Tucker.

There was a time — and it wasn’t that long ago — when the conversation around Justin Tucker and Canton wasn’t a question of if, but when. First-ballot stuff. The greatest kicker of his generation, maybe of any generation. Fourth in NFL history with an 89.1 percent conversion rate on field goals. A five-time first-team All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler who spent 13 seasons in purple and black. The Royal Farms spots. The opera voice. The 66-yarder in Detroit as time expired. He wasn’t just a kicker. He was Baltimore’s kicker, and for a dozen autumns, he was automatic.

And now? Now we’re left asking whether the Hall of Fame’s voting committee will ever be able to look past everything that came after — and whether they should.

Let’s not sanitize what happened. In January 2025, The Baltimore Banner published an investigation into allegations from six massage therapists who accused Tucker of inappropriate behavior during massage sessions, and two spas banned him for his conduct. After the initial reports, 10 more women came forward. Tucker has repeatedly denied the allegations.

The dominoes fell fast. The Ravens drafted Loop in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft in April, and in May, Eric DeCosta released Tucker with a statement calling it one of those instances where “football decisions are incredibly difficult”. A football decision. Sure. It’s also true that Tucker missed a career-high eight field goals in 2024, posting the lowest field goal percentage of his career at 73.3%. But nobody in this town believed the timing was a coincidence.

Then came the hammer: in June, the NFL closed its investigation and suspended Tucker 10 games for violating the personal conduct policy. His suspension began on roster cut-down day, August 26, and lasted until November 11.

The Tryouts That Failed

So what happened when the suspension lifted? Two teams kicked the tires. Two teams walked away.

First, New Orleans. The Saints brought Tucker in for a tryout in late November alongside Cade York, with kicker Blake Grupe having made only 69.2% of his field goals. Head Coach Kellen Moore said all the right things — that the Saints would do their “due diligence” and “collect as much information as we can”. Translation: the football part was only half the evaluation. The Saints signed Cade York, not Justin Tucker.

Next up, Indianapolis.

Tucker tried out for the Colts in early December after they released starter Michael Badgley following a rough stretch — but Indianapolis ultimately signed former Saints kicker Blake Grupe to its practice squad. Read that again. The Colts looked at the most accurate kicker of his era and chose the guy New Orleans had just jettisoned for missing 30 percent of his kicks.

Why? It’s complicated.

Tucker’s declining accuracy coupled with his off-field baggage limited interest from teams even after his suspension was lifted. He’s 36. In his final season, he went just 6 for 11 on kicks of 50 yards or longer. And every general manager knows that signing him means a week or two of press conferences about massage therapists instead of football. Simply put, signing Tucker brings a boatload of baggage and negative attention.

The cruelest twist? While Tucker sat, the game moved on without him. His NFL record for the longest field goal — 66 yards — was broken this season when Jacksonville’s Cam Little made a 68-yard kick on November 2. And back home, the kid who replaced him made it look easy: Loop went 22-for-24 (91.7%) on field goals and 29-for-30 on extra points. The Ravens didn’t miss a beat, until Pittsburgh.

These Days

What’s Tucker up to now? Waiting, mostly. Weeks after reinstatement, Tucker was still looking for a new team, and as we sit here in the summer of 2026, no team has signed him. No NFL camp invite. A man who once couldn’t walk through Towson without signing autographs is now, professionally speaking, a ghost.

And Canton?

The on-field résumé is unimpeachable — the accuracy, the All-Pros, the Super Bowl XLVII ring, the moments. If the Hall of Fame were purely a mathematics exam, Tucker passes with honors.

But the Hall’s voters are human beings, and the bylaws’ famous instruction to consider only on-field performance has never fully insulated candidates from off-field clouds. Voters have long memories and, in cases like this, uneasy consciences. Kickers already face the steepest climb into Canton — only Morten Andersen and Jan Stenerud made it as pure placekickers. Tucker needed to be a slam dunk. Instead, he’s a debate. And debates, for kickers, usually end in no.

My guess? The wait will be long, the arguments loud, and the bust — if it ever comes — will arrive well after the cheering stopped. Sixteen women came forward. That doesn’t vanish from a voter’s mind because the man could split the uprights from 66.

For Ravens fans, it’s a perplexing grief.

We watched greatness.

We just didn’t know everything we were watching.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2026/07/09/lombardis-way/justin-tucker-hall-of-fame/