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Katherine Terrell
METAIRIE, La. — The New Orleans Saints are bringing in former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker for a tryout, coach Kellen Moore confirmed Monday.
Tucker and Cade York are the two kickers who will try out for the Saints on Tuesday after Blake Grupe missed two field goals against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
Tucker was suspended for the first 10 weeks of the 2025 NFL season because of violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy and was made eligible for reinstatement on Nov. 11. This is his first tryout since his suspension ended.
The Ravens released Tucker in May after he was investigated by the NFL for sexual misconduct. The investigation began after the Baltimore Banner reported that 16 massage therapists at eight different spas in the Baltimore area accused Tucker of sexual misconduct in incidents that reportedly occurred between 2012-16. Tucker has repeatedly denied the allegations and called them “unequivocally false,” in a social media post last spring.
Moore was asked if he intended to speak to Tucker about those allegations during his visit. He said, “that’s all part of the visit and the conversations that you have to have.”
“Just like a lot of players, there’s the field component of this thing that you get guys in here to evaluate them, but also you just want to get to know the people and get to know maybe a circumstance here and there and certainly he had a suspension in the league, he’s served that suspension,” Moore said. “Obviously there’s some information to collect. Obviously, our personnel group will do a really good job collecting all the information and having the conversations … but this will be a workout, and we’ll see how that stuff takes place.”
Moore cited Tucker’s accomplishments in Baltimore as one of the reasons the Saints wanted to bring him in for a workout. Tucker, 36, signed with the Ravens as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2012 and spent 13 seasons there. He was a five-time first-team All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl seven times but is coming off a career-low 73.3% season kicking percentage in 2024.
Tucker was cut with three years left on a four-year, $22 million contract extension he signed in 2022. The extension made him the league’s highest-paid kicker at the time.
“He’s been a really good kicker in this league for a really long time, and he’s had a ton of success and he’s been a leader for Baltimore for a long time,” Moore said. “He’s been one of their leaders for an extended period of time with a very successful team and so obviously there’s been some stuff that’s been unfortunate. He’s gone through an experience, and I think it’s about collecting what that experience was, and we’ll evaluate the football aspect of it and we’ll evaluate everything else as well.”
Moore said the Saints will do their “due diligence” regarding Tucker and “collect as much information as we can.” He said he and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis will have a lot of conversations during the evaluation process.
“We were not in Baltimore, we’re not part of that process and so it’s about having those conversations as you go through this thing. We’ll keep that private as we go through it,” Moore said.
Grupe has made only 69.2% of his field goals this season and has now missed eight attempts. Moore said this is the first time the team has tried out kickers this season, but he did not say the tryouts meant they were definitely moving on from Grupe.
“No. No. I think this is all part of going through this process. We’ll bring in a couple of guys and just go through a workout, and we’ll see where it all takes place,” Moore said. “Blake’s a good kicker in this league. Obviously, it’s unfortunate we’ve missed a few lately and so he’s had some really good moments.”
The Saints currently have Charlie Smyth on their practice squad and Moore said he would be included in the evaluation process, as well. Smyth, 24, came to the Saints via the International Player Pathway last season and never has kicked in a regular-season game.
