Justin Tucker had been the Baltimore Ravens’ greatest weapon throughout his entire career, so to see him become a liability was shocking to say the least.
The 2024 season was easily the worst of Tucker’s illustrious career, as his 73.3 field goal percentage was the lowest of his career by almost 10 whole percentage points. With eight missed field goals and two missed extra points, it got to a point where Tucker was actively costing the Ravens games. he missed two field goals in an 18-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11, and two field goals and an extra point in a 24-19 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13.
Around that time, there were calls for the Ravens to bring in another kicker as competition for Tucker, either to motivate him or to actually take over the role. Those calls subsided following the bye week, as Tucker made all five of his field goals and all 23 of his extra points after that point, but there are still definitely outside questions about his future.
Inside the organization, though, the Ravens remain as confident in the future Hall of Fame kicker as ever.
“Well, I think Justin’s going to go down as – in my opinion – if not the best kicker of all time, one of the best, and I think he finished the season strong,” general manager Eric DeCosta told reporters Wednesday. “We’ll have those discussions, but I think I have every expectation that Justin’s going to be a great kicker for us next year and moving forward. …
“The way that Justin finished – he finished strong this year towards the end. [He] had a little bit of adversity midway through the season, but I think Justin is a tremendous competitor, [and he’s] very, very talented. He works his butt off, and I would expect him to be the kicker for us next year.”
Power definitely wasn’t the reason for Tucker’s woes, as all of his kicks had the distance. Rather, it was accuracy, as they all went wide and most went wide left specifically.
He seemed to solve those accuracy woes after the bye, but now the focus becomes carrying his end-of-season form into next season.
“Maybe we all saw that Justin Tucker is human. Maybe we got a chance to see that,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s hard to be a great kicker in this league and be as consistent as he’s been, and he ran into that – this adversity – probably a lot later in his career than most of these guys do, but it’s something that probably had to happen in terms of his growth as a player and even as a performer.
“If you’re a high-level performer, maybe you understand that more than those of us who aren’t athletes at that level, and that’s the thing I was proud of him for, and I think that’s going to serve him well going forward in his career.”