Opinion: NFL's suspension of kicker Justin Tucker is essentially a guilty verdict

USA Today

3 days ago

Justin Tucker has not been charged with a crime or faced any litigation in a civil court. But the NFL effectively gave him a guilty verdict Thursday when the league levied a 10-week suspension on the former Baltimore Ravens kicker.
Which makes the Ravens' decision to release him May 5 under the guise of 'football decisions' even more dubious. Sure, Tucker's best football – a career that makes him arguably the greatest kicker in NFL history – is behind him. But Tucker's days with the Ravens, and perhaps as an NFL kicker, were numbered once 16 women accused him of sexual harassment while receiving massage work at eight different Baltimore-area spas from 2012-16 in a series of reports in the Baltimore Banner from earlier this year.
The NFL started an investigation in February. Tucker, who has still denied any wrongdoing, vehemently disputed the Banner's reporting. But the NFL does not mess around with its investigations. These are well-paid, well-resourced, highly respected individuals seeking the truth. Multiple Ravens stakeholders, including general manager and executive vice president Eric DeCosta and head coach John Harbaugh, met with investigators.
Whatever investigators discovered must have been severe enough to warrant a suspension of this length with Tucker, released by the Ravens May 5, and not currently on any team.
A representative for Tucker released a statement to ESPN stating that the kicker stood behind his previous statements, which called the Banner's reporting libelous. Those past defenses were obviously not founded in reality. The punishment after the investigation reveals as much.
'We are disappointed with the NFL's decision,' Rob Roche told ESPN. 'Justin has always strived to carry himself in a way that would make his family and community proud.
'The people who know Justin best know his character and understand that while he remains fully committed to excellence as a football player, he is deeply dedicated to his most important lifetime roles as a father, husband, and friend.'
The Ravens called his release a football decision. But that was always insulting to everyone's intelligence. Tucker didn't help himself by having his worst statistical season in 2024 (73.3% field-goal percentage).
'Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult,' team general manager and executive vice president Eric DeCosta said in a statement at the time, 'and this is one of those instances.'
Had the NFL Players' Association, the league and Tucker not agreed to the punishment, the case could have gone in front of a jointly appointed disciplinary officer, former U.S. district judge Sue L. Robinson. Neither she nor commissioner Roger Goodell (or another arbitrator, had Goodell deemed it necessary) will have to make an additional ruling, however.
The lone disciplinary hearing heard by Robinson since the policy was created during the latest collective bargaining agreement was Deshaun Watson's 11-game suspension and $5 million fine levied in 2022 after he faced dozens of sexual harassment allegations, also from massage therapists, in the Houston area while he played for the Texans.
More: Justin Tucker suspended 10 games for violating NFL's personal conduct policy
People forget the league wanted an indefinite suspension of at least one year, while the union took its case to Robinson who issued a six-game suspension. The NFL appealed and an agreement on the 11-game ban and $5 million was reached.
For Tucker, a five-time All-Pro, to get 10 games with no pushback puts him in a similar tier of punishment. That it occurred to a legendary member of the same organization at the center of the Ray Rice controversy, in which the league suspended Rice two games despite video evidence of him harming his spouse, invokes nasty memories.
Tucker was a popular figure in the Ravens' locker room. He was the longest-tenured player in the organization until his release and the last remaining member of the Super Bowl 47 team. His career kicking percentage of 89.1% is tops in league history. Tyler Loop, a sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft from Arizona, and undrafted rookie John Hoyland are currently the only place kickers on Baltimore's roster.
There's been no reported interest among the other 31 teams in Tucker, who can still sign and participate in training camp and preseason games. If one wants to take a flyer on Tucker come Week 11 this November, that will be their right, same as it was the Browns' to trade for Watson and give him $230 million fully guaranteed.
They should keep in mind that the NFL doesn't ban players for 10 weeks for no reason. And that reason should be enough to make them think twice.