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Jamison Hensley
The general manager of the Ravens, Eric Decosta, said on Tuesday that the number of accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior against kicking Justin Tucker is “serious and worrying”, but indicated that the team will wait before determining its future in Baltimore.
“I think we are lucky that the League is doing an investigation,” Decosta in the NFL Scouting Combine said. “We will wait as patiently as we can get as much information as we can, and we will make our decisions based on that.”
This marked the first time that a Ravens official has sent questions about Tucker since the accusations of inappropriate behavior first emerged 26 days ago.
In total, 16 massage therapists of eight high -end spas in the Baltimore area have made accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior against Tucker, according to the Baltimore banner. According to reports, all incidents occurred during the 2012 to 2016 sessions, which were Tucker’s first five seasons in the NFL.
The Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that the accusations against Tucker “are not what you want to wake up and read.”
“That is what we are waiting to try to do is reconcile it,” said Harbaugh. “That’s what the process is.
Decosta was asked about the zero tolerance posture of the Ravens for domestic violence, which Harbaugh referred to three years ago when asked about the suspension of 11 Deshaun Watson games after accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior with therapists of massage. Decosta echoed what the then president of Ravens said, Dick Cass, in 2015, that there is no established policy, and the team will analyze each case individually.
“There are no absolute,” Decosta said. “In this case, we are still waiting as information as possible.”
Decosta said she has spoken with the League in Baltimore and is not sure how long the NFL investigation will take. NFL researchers have been in Baltimore talking to some of the women who accused Tucker of inappropriate sexual behavior, a source to ESPN told ESPN last week.
According to Decosta, the Ravens did not know any accusation against Tucker until the banner contacted them on a Tucker research piece, which was then published on January 30.
Decosta acknowledged that he has spoken with Tucker.
“I’m going to save those comments for myself … what I think is probably intelligent,” Decosta said. “But at some point, we find ourselves, and that’s what I’m going to say about that now.”
Harbaugh said he spoke with Tucker approximately one week and a half after the accusations arose.
“[It was] Only more from a perspective of being together during all these years, something like that was happening … and how he handled it with his family, “said Harbaugh.
Harbaugh said Baltimore will look for kickers in the draft.
“We are looking at each position, but I would say that Kicker’s position would have been a priority regardless of what,” said Thragh. “Justin is our kicking. We love him and I always waited for him to continue forever, but nobody goes forever.”
Tucker has denied any irregularity, issuing a statement on social networks on January 30 in which he described the “unequivocally false” accusations.
He wrote that Banner’s initial article “takes harmless or ambiguous interactions and biases so disproportionate that they are no longer recognizable … This is a desperate sensationalist forage.”
Tucker has been accused by women of sexually inappropriate behavior that included exposing their genitals, brushing some with their exposed penis and leaving what they thought was ejaculated at the massage table.
Tucker could be subject to discipline under NFL’s personal behavior policy. In his press conference during the Super Bowl week, the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, addressed the accusations against Tucker, saying: “Obviously they are serious problems, and he is taking it seriously, as we are.”
Last week, in a statement to ESPN, a league spokesman said: “We do not provide details or updates of the review process while the investigations are ongoing.”
Tucker, 35, is a professional bowler seven times that is the most precise kicker in the history of the NFL. He is the oldest player in the Ravens and the last remaining player of his Super Bowl championship team in 2012.
