Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said on Tuesday that the number of sexual misconduct allegations made against kicker Justin Tucker is “serious and concerned,” but the team decides their future in Baltimore. He said he showed that he would wait before he could.
“I think we’re lucky that the league is doing research,” DeCosta said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “We’ll wait as patiently as possible for as much information as possible, and we’ll make a decision based on that.”
This was the first time Ravens officials have questioned Tucker since the first accusations of inappropriate behavior were charged 26 days ago.
In total, 16 massage therapists from eight high-end Baltimore-area spas have filed sexual misconduct allegations against Tucker, according to the Baltimore Banner. All incidents reportedly occurred during sessions from 2012 to 2016, when Tucker’s first five seasons in the NFL.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh said the accusations against Tucker were “not something you want to wake up and read.”
“That’s what we’re trying to do is reconcile it,” Harbaugh said. “That’s the purpose of the process. So, if you can, you have to understand what you understand, what happened. We all have questions, but no one else is going to happen. I don’t know exactly what happened.”
DeCosta was asked about the Ravens’ zero-tolerance stance on domestic violence, which he mentioned three years ago about Desshaun Watson’s 11-game suspension after accusations of sexual misconduct with a massage therapist. Decosta reiterated that in 2015, then-Revens president Dick Cass said there were no policies set up, and the team will consider each case individually.
“There’s nothing absolutely,” DeCosta said. “In this case, we are still waiting for as much information as possible.”
DeCosta spoke to the Baltimore league but said he didn’t know how long it would take to investigate the NFL. NFL investigators are talking to several women who accused Tucker of sexual misconduct, sources told ESPN last week.
According to DeCosta, the Ravens were unaware of the allegations against Tucker until Banner contacted him about Tucker’s investigation article, which was later published on Jan. 30.
DeCosta admitted that he spoke to Tucker.
“I’m going to keep those comments to myself… I think that’s probably smart,” DeCosta said. “But at some point we met. And so I’m going to say about it now.”
Harbaugh said he spoke to Tucker about a week and a half after the allegations surfaced.
“[It was] In terms of being together for all these years, it’s a kind of thing he was going through and how he treated his family,” Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh said Baltimore was watching the draft kicker.
“We look at all the positions, but I think whatever the kicker position was a priority,” Harbaugh said. “Justin is our kicker. We love him. I’ve always expected him to continue forever, but no one will go forever.”
Tucker denied the fraud and issued a social media statement on January 30th, calling the allegations “explicitly false.”
He said that the article in the first banner “takes harmless or ambiguous interactions and distorts them so disproportionately that they can no longer be recognized. … This is a hopeless tabloid feed.”
Tucker is accused of a woman of sexually inappropriate behavior, exposing her genitals, brushing some with her exposed penis, and leaving behind what appears to be ejaculating on the massage table.
Tucker may be subject to discipline under the NFL’s personal policy of conduct. At a press conference at Super Bowl Week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told the allegations against Tucker, “They are obviously serious and he takes it as seriously as we do.” I stated.
In a statement to ESPN last week, a league spokesperson said it would not provide details or updates to the review process while the investigation is underway.
The 35-year-old Tucker is the seven-time Pro Bowler, the most accurate kicker in NFL history. He is the longest tenered player for the Ravens in 2012 and the last remaining player on the Super Bowl Championship team.
