The Baltimore Ravens made the biggest kicker decision in their franchise’s history when they chose Monday to release Justin Tucker.
The NFL’s all-time leader in field-goal percentage is under NFL investigation for sexual misconduct allegations. The Ravens called it a “football decision.”
But now Baltimore needs a new kicker for the first time in more than a decade.
The obvious candidate is Tyler Loop, the sixth-round pick from Arizona. He made a 62-yarder in his time with the Wildcats and was highly sought after by the Ravens, enough to make him the first kicker draft pick in franchise history.
But there’s another kicker in the building, too.
That’s Wyoming’s John Hoyland. He signed as an undrafted free agent. Clearly, the Ravens knew a kicker decision might be coming.
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Hoyland played five years at Wyoming, making 79.3 percent of his field goal attempts on the more difficult wide-hashmark fields in college. He made field goals out to 56 yards.
Loop is certainly the favorite, and Hoyland the dark horse.
There’s also sometimes a tough transition for rookie kickers to the NFL.
Don’t rule out the Ravens bringing in a veteran free agent to compete, too.
Among the available veterans: Nick Folk, Matt Prater, Eddy Pineiro, Michael Badgley, Zane Gonzalez, Austin Seibert, Greg Joseph and Cade York.
At this point, all we know for sure is the Ravens kicker won’t be Tucker. The rest of the offseason is for figuring out who it will be.
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