The Ravens have released Justin Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, following numerous allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior at spas and wellness centers in the Baltimore region.

Two of those businesses said they banned Tucker from returning.

In a statement, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta on Monday called it a “football decision” that was “incredibly difficult.” Tucker was the lone remaining member of the Ravens’ Super Bowl XLVII-winning roster and had spent his entire 13-year career in Baltimore, becoming the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

“Justin created many significant and unforgettable moments in Ravens history,” DeCosta said in the statement. “His reliability, focus, drive, resilience and extraordinary talent made him one of the league’s best kickers for over a decade.

“We are grateful for Justin’s many contributions while playing for the Ravens. We sincerely wish him and his family the very best in this next chapter of their lives.”

The allegations against Tucker include claims that he repeatedly and intentionally exposed his erect genitals during massage sessions, brushed two therapists with his exposed penis and, in several cases, left what appeared to be ejaculate on the massage table. 

Michael Belsky and Catie Dickinson, attorneys representing many of the massage therapists who have accused Tucker of wrongdoing, said their clients’ experiences were “extremely traumatic.”

“While we have no comment on the decision to release Mr. Tucker, the continued lack of acknowledgement of these experiences is profoundly disappointing,” the attorneys said in a statement.

Clare Locke and Williams & Connolly, law firms that Tucker hired earlier this year in the wake of The Banner’s reporting, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Tucker has denied any wrongdoing, calling the allegations “unequivocally false,” and his attorneys have said he was never banned from any spas.

Tucker’s release comes about a month after Ravens team president Sashi Brown said the team would wait to make a decision on Tucker until the NFL finished its investigation into Tucker, and nine days after the Ravens made Tyler Loop the first kicker they’ve drafted in franchise history.

Coach John Harbaugh said Sunday that Tucker, 35, had been at the team’s Owings Mills facility over the past few weeks, and that the team was unaware of where the NFL’s investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct stood. A league spokesman said Monday the investigation is ongoing.

“Every decision we make has to be based on football,” Harbaugh said. “There’s a lot of layers to that. You’ve got a rookie kicker [Loop] in here. We took him in the sixth round, early in the sixth round. He’s a talented guy. Just from a football standpoint, salary cap, all the different things that you just take into consideration — whatever we decide to do over the next few weeks would be based on football.”

Justin Tucker (9) reacts after missing a field goal attempt against the Philadelphia Eagles last December.

Tucker still faces a possible suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. In 2022, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was suspended 11 games and fined $5 million after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions. Watson has denied the allegations and settled most of the lawsuits privately.

Tucker ranks No. 1 in career field goal percentage (89.1%) among all qualifying kickers in NFL history, but he was coming off the worst season of his career. He made just 22 of 30 field goals last season (73.3%), with misses in a handful in high-leverage spots.

A five-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowl selection, Tucker was in the second year of a four-year, $24 million extension that he’d signed in August 2022. He was set to count $7.1 million against the cap in 2025. If the Ravens designate Tucker as a post-June 1 release, the team would spread his salary cap hit across the 2025 and 2026 seasons, creating $4.2 million in cap space.

Tucker’s future in Baltimore first came under scrutiny less than two weeks after their 2024 season ended. The Baltimore Banner’s initial investigation, published on Jan. 30, included six massage therapists across four locations who said Tucker engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior.

Overall, 16 massage therapists from eight spas and wellness centers came forward. The women, most of whom do not know each other, detailed similar experiences and told people close to them around the time the incidents occurred. The Banner reached out to those people to corroborate the women’s accounts.

The alleged incidents occurred from 2012, Tucker’s rookie year, to 2016. Legal experts consulted by The Banner said that, while there were some criminal statutes that might have applied if the allegations were proven true, the statute of limitations had expired.

In his last statement, Tucker told OutKick in late February that he “never intended to disrespect anyone.”

“It devastates me to know that anyone I have worked with would not have felt respected and valued as a professional, but more importantly as a person, and to anyone who has felt otherwise, I am sorry,” Tucker said in a statement provided by a publicist. “I want you to know I am committed to ensuring that everyone I interact with continues to feel that I respect them and care about them as a human being.”

One massage therapist who told The Banner in January about her experiences with Tucker said she was disappointed that DeCosta did not mention the allegations against Tucker in his statement.

“I just hate thinking that he’s just going to retire or get picked up and all of this is just going to blow over,” said the woman, who had told The Banner that Tucker had repeatedly exposed his genitals to her.

The massage therapist said in a text message that she had hoped that Tucker would “admit what he did to all of us, but he won’t because he’s a coward.”

“I find Justin’s responses to all of this to be completely abhorrent,” she said.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh speaks to the media during the NFL Scouting Combine in February.

The massage therapist also criticized the Ravens for not acknowledging “the real reason they are releasing him, which I’m sure has a lot to do with this open investigation.”

“Apparently, they are cowards as well,” she said.

Another massage therapist who had told The Banner that Tucker had acted inappropriately with her in 2016, including appearing to have an orgasm during a massage, said she found it freeing to have finally told her story.

“I didn’t really care what punishment he was given or what repercussions he suffered,” she wrote in a text message. “I just wanted to tell my story. Just in doing so, I’ve been able to finally start coping with it.”

“I hope that because of all this others in my profession will be able to feel brave enough to advocate for themselves even when they’re met with resistance,” she wrote. “I implore spa owners to listen to your service providers and put their safety as your #1 priority.”

Tucker’s historic run of success had made him an unlikely star in Baltimore. After going undrafted out of Texas in 2012, he signed with the Ravens and beat out incumbent Billy Cundiff for the starting job. Tucker made 30 of 33 field goals in his rookie season, then nailed a 47-yard game-winner in the team’s double-overtime “Mile High Miracle” playoff victory over the Denver Broncos. In the Ravens’ Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers, he made both of his field goals and all four of his extra-point attempts.

Over the next decade, Tucker established himself as the NFL’s best kicker and a serious Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate. Since 2012, he ranks No. 1 in the NFL in field goals made (417) and points scored (1,770). He became the first kicker in NFL history to register at least 130 points in eight straight seasons (2016-23). And from 2016 to 2022, Tucker made a league-record 65 straight field goals in the fourth quarter and overtime, including an NFL-record 66-yard field goal as time expired in a dramatic victory over the Detroit Lions.

With his success and persona, Tucker became one of the Ravens’ most popular players and one of the NFL’s most recognizable stars.

His jersey has been one of the most popular in Baltimore sports over the past decade, and he won over fans outside M&T Bank Stadium with his faith and off-field talents. Tucker, a devout Catholic and classically trained opera singer, crosses himself before each kick and has put on performances at Catholic masses.

He has been the face for the locally based convenience chain Royal Farms for almost a decade, appeared in commercials for the movie “Kraven the Hunter,” and been the subject of a “60 Minutes” segment and a New York Times feature story.

Harbaugh, who coached Tucker for all of his career, said in February that he didn’t know of the allegations against a kicker he’s called the “best ever” until The Banner published its first report.

“It’s not something you want to see,” he said. “I don’t care what it is in terms of things that are hurtful and harmful to people. There are too many headlines like that; there are too many stories that you hear that make you just sad and disappointed. And you don’t ever want to see a circumstance, a situation, especially as if it relates to your world where anybody is made to feel less than great when they are involved in a work experience somewhere.”

Baltimore Banner reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article.