Tyler Loop has big shoes to fill.
On the football field, Justin Tucker was the most accurate field goal kicker in NFL history, and he was the Baltimore Ravens’ star at that position since 2012.
The Ravens released Tucker in May as the NFL investigates him for allegations of sexual misconduct.
They took Loop in the sixth-round of the NFL Draft out of Arizona.
They also spent much of the summer letting Wyoming’s John Hoyland in on the competition, but now, it looks like it’s Loop or a veteran.
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The Ravens opened their preseason on Thursday night against the Colts, and Loop’s debut was a mixed bag.
He yanked a 46-yard field goal attempt wide left, but then late in the game, he drilled a 52-yarder.
“Coach John Harbaugh said Loop has to prove himself in the preseason,” writes ESPN’s Jamison Hensley.
Hensley has previously reported that Baltimore wants to “settle on a kicker around the preseason finale on Aug. 23.”
Loop has made 58 of his 62 field goal attempts during training camp practices, per Hensley.
The next few days will be rather telling for Loop’s chances of indeed holding on to the starting job.
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If the Ravens really want this figured out by two weeks from now, any veteran they’d bring in to compete with Loop would likely have to show up this week to create a two-week runway of figuring out who the kicker really should be.
Usually when teams invest a draft pick in a kicker, that guy gets a first year without much competition presented to try and get the most out of the pick but limit the overall pressure on the player.
Loop has probably been good enough so far to be safe, but it also couldn’t have been a great feeling for Baltimore to watch him miss his very first kick of the preseason.
There’s still more to come here, but Loop has at least put himself in the driver’s seat.
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