Ravens basic supervisor Eric DeCosta mentioned Tuesday that the variety of sexual misconduct allegations made in opposition to kicker Justin Tucker is “severe and regarding” however indicated that the workforce will wait earlier than figuring out his future in Baltimore.
“I feel we’re lucky that the league is doing an investigation,” DeCosta mentioned on the NFL scouting mix. “We’ll wait as patiently as we will for as a lot info as we will, and we’ll make our choices based mostly on that.”
This marked the primary time a Ravens official has fielded questions on Tucker since accusations of inappropriate habits first surfaced 26 days in the past.
In whole, 16 therapeutic massage therapists from eight high-end Baltimore-area spas have made allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to Tucker, based on The Baltimore Banner. The entire incidents reportedly occurred throughout periods from 2012 to 2016, which have been Tucker’s first 5 seasons within the NFL.
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Ravens coach John Harbaugh mentioned the accusations in opposition to Tucker are “not what you wish to get up and skim.”
“That is what we’re ready to attempt to do is reconcile it,” Harbaugh mentioned. “That is what the method is for. That is why you have to come to an understanding in case you can, about what occurred. We have all acquired questions, however no person is aware of precisely what occurred. So, let’s examine the place the overview takes us.”
DeCosta was requested concerning the Ravens’ zero-tolerance stance for home violence, which Harbaugh referred to a few years in the past when requested about Deshaun Watson’s 11-game suspension following accusations of sexual misconduct with therapeutic massage therapists. DeCosta echoed what then-Ravens president Dick Cass mentioned in 2015, that there isn’t a set coverage, and the workforce will take a look at every case individually.
“There aren’t any absolutes,” DeCosta mentioned. “On this case, we’re nonetheless awaiting as a lot info as attainable.”
DeCosta mentioned he has spoken to the league in Baltimore and isn’t positive how lengthy the NFL’s investigation will take. Investigators for the NFL have been in Baltimore talking with a number of the ladies who’ve accused Tucker of sexual misconduct, a supply instructed ESPN final week.
In keeping with DeCosta, the Ravens have been unaware of any allegations in opposition to Tucker till the Banner contacted them about an investigative piece on Tucker, which was later printed Jan. 30.
DeCosta acknowledged that he has spoken to Tucker.
“I will hold these feedback to myself … which I feel might be the good factor to do,” DeCosta mentioned. “However in some unspecified time in the future, we did meet, and that is what I will say about that now.”
Harbaugh mentioned he spoke with Tucker a couple of week and a half after the allegations surfaced.
“[It was] simply extra from a perspective of being collectively for all these years, type of what he was going via … and the way he dealt with it together with his household,” Harbaugh mentioned.
Harbaugh mentioned Baltimore will probably be taking a look at kickers within the draft.
“We’re taking a look at each place, however I would say the kicker place would’ve been a precedence it doesn’t matter what,” Harbaugh mentioned. “Justin’s our kicker. We love him and I at all times anticipated him to maintain going endlessly, however no person goes endlessly.”
Tucker has denied any wrongdoing, issuing a press release on social media Jan. 30 by which he referred to as the allegations “unequivocally false.”
He wrote that the preliminary Banner article “takes innocuous or ambiguous interactions and skews them so out of proportion that they’re not recognizable. … That is determined tabloid fodder.”
Tucker has been accused by the ladies of sexually inappropriate habits that included exposing his genitals, brushing some together with his uncovered penis and leaving what they believed to be ejaculate on the therapeutic massage desk.
Tucker may very well be topic to self-discipline underneath the NFL’s private conduct coverage. At his information convention throughout Tremendous Bowl week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the allegations in opposition to Tucker, saying, “They’re clearly severe points, and he takes that critically, as are we.”
Final week, in a press release to ESPN, a league spokesperson mentioned, “We don’t present particulars or updates of the overview course of whereas investigations are ongoing.”
Tucker, 35, is a seven-time Professional Bowler who’s probably the most correct kicker in NFL historical past. He’s the longest-tenured participant on the Ravens and the final remaining participant from their Tremendous Bowl championship workforce in 2012.
