BALTIMORE — Justin Tucker rarely sees the field compared with his Ravens teammates, trotting onto the turf at M&T Bank Stadium only a few times per game. Still, he’s one of Baltimore’s most recognizable athletes.

The kicker, who has been on the Ravens’ roster longer than any other current player, has built a Hall of Fame on-field resume and has been a staple of the Baltimore community since being signed out of college in 2012. Few NFL franchises regularly have fans in the stadium sporting jerseys for the team’s kicker, but Ravens fans have widely supported the former undrafted prospect over the past decade.

He’s also now facing off-the-field allegations that threaten his career. The Baltimore Banner reported Thursday that Tucker allegedly acted inappropriately toward six massage therapists in the local area from 2012 to 2016. Tucker denied the allegations.

Rise to on-field stardom

Tucker wasn’t always destined for NFL stardom. While a highly reliable kicker at the University of Texas from 2008 to 2011, he wasn’t invited to the NFL scouting combine or Senior Bowl after his college career. He went undrafted in 2012 while four other kickers were selected in the seven-round event.

He entered training camp for the Ravens competing with incumbent kicker Billy Cundiff. Tucker won the job, and the rest is history.

The former Longhorns star won a Super Bowl with Baltimore as a rookie, making all 42 of his regular-season extra-point attempts and 30 of 33 field goal tries. He went a perfect 4 for 4 in the postseason, including a 47-yard game-winner against Denver to move Baltimore into the AFC championship game. He made a pair of fourth-quarter field goals in the team’s Super Bowl 47 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31.

In subsequent seasons, Tucker developed into the gold standard for NFL kickers. He made at least 80% of his field-goal attempts in each of his first 12 NFL seasons, earning five first-team All-Pro nods and seven Pro Bowl appearances. He’s the most accurate kicker in NFL history, even after making just 73.3% of his field-goal attempts this season.

Tucker’s 66-yard game-winning field goal against the Detroit Lions in 2021 remains the longest kick in NFL history. He’s perhaps the most accomplished kicker in league history and a future Hall of Fame candidate.

The veteran struggled this season, though, dropping below an 80% success rate on his field-goal attempts for the first time in his career. Still, he had the public support of his teammates and coach John Harbaugh.

“We’re pretty close,” Harbaugh said in September after cameras captured a heartfelt conversation between the two on the sideline. “We’ve been together for a long time and had a lot of conversations. It was just two guys talking about where we’re at. I love the guy and respect him. He’s everything that you want in a player and a friend.”

Off-field persona

Part of Tucker’s popularity among fans developed through his off-field personality, which is often described as quirky. He’s been referred to as the best cornhole player on the team and is a trained opera singer, a unique hobby that was spotlighted by NFL Films.

Tucker has appeared on CBS’ “60 Minutes” and he’s been a regular on Royal Farms commercials since 2015.

“If Justin Tucker ran for mayor of Baltimore, he would win in a landslide,” Max Weiss wrote for Baltimore Magazine in 2021. “So it makes perfect sense that Royal Farms chose the handsome, affable, multitalented Ravens kicker to be their pitchman after Haloti Ngata was traded to the Lions in 2015.”

Tucker has posted on Instagram in recent years promoting Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, Walmart and Olipop, among other brands. It’s rare for a kicker to be one of a team’s most recognizable players, but Tucker’s long tenure in Baltimore and willingness to be on camera has made him one of the most well-known athletes in the region.

The kicker has also been outspoken about his Catholic faith.

He has attended Mass at Sacred Heart in Glyndon and at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore during his years in the area, according to a profile the Catholic Review, a publication of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, ran on the kicker during his rookie year. He is known for making the sign of the cross before kicks.

Tucker can perform opera in seven languages, including French, German, Italian, Latin and Russian. He has used that talent to raise funds for the Baltimore-based nonprofit Catholic Charities.

Accompanied by the Concert Artists of Baltimore, he sang “Ave Maria” at the organization’s Christmas Festival on Dec. 11, 2015, receiving a standing ovation from a packed house of about 900 people. He sang “O Holy Night” at the same festival in 2016, accompanied by the Morgan State University Choir and the Choral Arts Society. The money raised benefited a program for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Future in Baltimore

Tucker’s contract with the Ravens runs through 2027, and Baltimore’s front office signaled at the end of the season that it plans to keep him as the team’s primary kicker in 2025, even after a subpar performance this season.

“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,” Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said at the team’s end-of-season news conference.

The Jan. 22 news conference occurred before the reported allegations of Tucker’s mistreatment of massage therapists were published. If Baltimore opts to cut ties and designate Tucker as a post-June 1 release, it would create $4.2 million in salary cap space and a $2.8 million dead cap hit, according to Over The Cap.

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Baltimore Sun reporter Jonathan M. Pitts contributed to this article.

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