The Baltimore Ravens parted ways with kicker Justin Tucker a few weeks ago. Head coach John Harbaugh has now commented in detail on the reasons behind the decision.

John Harbaugh, head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, has commented on the dismissal of kicker Justin Tucker.

The 62-year-old spoke of a “complex decision-making process” that involved owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Sashi Brown, and general manager Eric DeCosta.

Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, was released by the Ravens on May 5 amid an NFL investigation into sexual misconduct.

“I mean, we’re talking about arguably the best kicker in the history of the game,” Harbaugh said after the team’s second OTA practice of the offseason. ‘As we’ve said, it’s multi-layered and complicated. But at the end of the day, it comes down to what you have to do to get your team ready for the first game.’

He continued: “I think when you take a step back and look at all the issues and ramifications, you can understand that we need to get our football team ready and we need a kicker who is ready to go right now. And that was the move we decided to make.”

Harbaugh added: “In that sense, it’s a football decision, and now we have to focus all our energy on getting the kickers ready. We have a competition and we have to prepare the guys to kick. That’s all I’m thinking about. From my perspective, it’s, ‘We need a kicker who kicks,’ and what’s the best way to get that done?”

Tucker dismissal: Allegations not decisive, according to Ravens

When Tucker’s departure was announced a few weeks ago, the Baltimore franchise insisted that it was purely a sporting decision. The franchise had previously drafted Tyler Loop in the sixth round, a kicker who is expected to fill Tucker’s big shoes.

At that point, however, there was already speculation that Tucker’s departure was related to allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior toward numerous massage therapists.

According to the Baltimore Banner, a total of 16 massage therapists in the Baltimore area have made allegations against the legendary Ravens kicker.

Tucker has twice publicly denied any wrongdoing. He called the allegations “completely false” and described the article as “desperate tabloid fodder.”

The seven-time Pro Bowler converted 417 of his 468 field goal attempts in his career. With a field goal percentage of 89.1 percent, he even holds the NFL record among all kickers with at least 100 attempts.

The dismissal of the 35-year-old also freed up around $4.2 million in cap space for Baltimore.