The Ravens called the release of kicker Justin Tucker this month a “football decision.” Coach John Harbaugh, in his first comments since the move, indicated Wednesday that the NFL’s investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior against Tucker played a role in making it one.

Harbaugh said he, general manager Eric DeCosta, team President Sashi Brown, Executive Vice President Ozzie Newsome and team owner Steve Bisciotti worked together in the “complex decision-making process.”

Although Harbaugh didn’t directly mention the investigation, he made references to “issues” as he explained the decision.

“It’s complicated,” Harbaugh said. “But in the end it all comes back to what you have to do to get ready for your team to play the first game. I think if you step back and take a look at all the issues, all the ramifications, you can understand that we’ve got to get our football team ready, and we’ve got to have a kicker ready to go. And that was the move that we decided to make. So in that sense it’s a football decision.”

Harbaugh said it was difficult because they were cutting “arguably the best kicker in the history of the game.” Tucker has the best career field goal percentage (89.1%) and the record for longest field goal (66 yards), but he is also coming off the worst season of his career.

On Jan. 30, The Banner released an investigation with accusations from six massage therapists. They said Tucker engaged in inappropriate behavior at four high-end spas and wellness centers, including that he repeatedly and intentionally exposed his erect genitals, brushed two therapists with his exposed penis and, in several cases, left what appeared to be ejaculate on the massage table. Two spas said they banned him. Ten more women made accusations in the following weeks, bringing the number of accusers to 16 women across eight spas.

Tucker denied the allegations in a statement. In a later statement, he again denied the allegations but also issued an apology to anyone who felt he disrespected them.

At the NFL combine in February, DeCosta said the organization would wait “as patiently as we can” while the league conducted its investigation. Brown reiterated the team’s stance at the annual league meeting in March.

“I think we want to make sure that we have a great understanding of the facts, an actual understanding of the facts, hear both sides of the situation, and that we allow the investigation to properly be conducted and concluded, and make decisions based on the full information,” Brown said.

In April, the Ravens drafted a kicker, Arizona’s Tyler Loop, in the sixth round. Harbaugh and DeCosta got their first in-person look at Loop at the two on-field days of rookie minicamp in early May.

Tucker had been working out at the team facility in the offseason (the collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association mandated that he be allowed to participate in team activities if no punishment had been meted out). Speaking to reporters May 4, Harbaugh said, until the investigation concluded, “every decision we make has to be based on football.”

The next day, the Ravens released Tucker, calling it a “football decision” in a statement attributed to DeCosta.

“Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one of those instances. Considering our current roster, we have made the tough decision to release Justin Tucker.”

The CBA also mandates that the team and league cannot both discipline a player for the same act or conduct. Because the Ravens characterized this move as a “football decision,” the NFL can discipline Tucker if its investigation confirms the allegations.

With Tucker gone, the Ravens have an ongoing “kicking battle,” Harbaugh said. In addition to Loop, undrafted free agent John Hoyland out of Wyoming is competing for the job. They are kicking every other day, and it was Hoyland’s turn at open practice Wednesday.

“We’ve got to have a kicker ready to go,” Harbaugh said Wednesday. “And there’s a whole lot of moving parts to that deal. It’s just the reality of it.”