The NFL’s offseason investigation into kicker Justin Tucker’s alleged inappropriate sexual behavior obscured some of the Ravens’ other special teams issues last year.

Now, almost two months after Tucker was cut, coordinator Chris Horton has a lot to fix as training camp marches on.

The Ravens ranked 23rd in the NFL last season in overall special teams efficiency, according to FTN, by far the team’s lowest ranking since 2011. Over the previous four seasons, they had never finished lower than third. Horton’s group lacked a reliable strength, as only two of the Ravens’ units — kick returns and punt coverage — finished in the top half of the league in FTN’s defense-adjusted value over average metric.

Those struggles cost them in some painful defeats. They were also a surprise, given John Harbaugh’s background. Before he was hired as the Ravens’ head coach in 2008, he’d served as a special teams coordinator for four teams in college and the NFL, including a nine-year stint with the Philadelphia Eagles. In Baltimore, he helped turn special teams into a defining factor in the Ravens’ success, not a flaw.

Now Harbaugh and Horton have to rebuild the unit all over again. The Ravens not only have to replace Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history and a longtime team icon, but also linebackers Chris Board and Malik Harrison, who led the unit in special teams snaps last season before signing elsewhere this offseason.

“We still have guys in the building that understand the standard and that understand the expectations of what we’re looking for,” Horton said after practice Saturday. “So, as long as you have a select few guys — and, yes, we did lose some guys — but with young guys, they don’t know any better. So you’ve got an opportunity to really mold those guys into what you want them to be.

“If they listen, and they learn and they grow on the way, they’re going to be playing at the standard faster than what we think. But they’re young guys. They don’t know the system. All they know is, like, ‘All right, what is Coach saying?’ Then we have video, and we have proof of what it looks like on tape from the past.”

Some adjustments might carry over from late last season. Running back Keaton Mitchell could be the favorite to start at kickoff returner, especially if he continues to show he’s regained the athleticism he lost after a 2023 knee injury. Mitchell returned five kicks for an average of 31.2 yards last season.

“Those running back body types, they’re used to bouncing off tacklers,” Horton said. “So it allowed for that type of player to really have success back there. I believe a guy with some toughness, a guy that’s going to run with speed, with vision, he’s going to have success back there for us.”

At punt returner, wide receiver LaJohntay Wester, a sixth-round pick, could prove dangerous. At Colorado last year, he returned nine punts for 108 yards and a touchdown, averaging 12 yards a return.

But most of the focus in camp has been on the kickers. Before Tucker was released, the Ravens drafted Tyler Loop in the sixth round, and he’s proven why. He’s been flawless in training camp, making all 23 field goal attempts.

The Ravens also brought in John Hoyland, an undrafted rookie, to compete for the job. He’s missed two of his 18 attempts across three days of training camp, and his kicks seems to have less power than Loop’s.

“From kicking, the technical standpoint, it’s about kicking the right way, kicking a straight ball,” Horton said. “We want the ball to be straight every time, and that’s what we’re working for, and that’s been a big improvement since the spring. I think both guys have gotten a lot better at doing it.”

Horton said he expects both Loop and Hoyland to play in the Ravens’ three preseason games, the first coming Aug. 7 against the Indianapolis Colts. The Ravens could declare a winner in the kicking battle before their Aug. 23 preseason finale.

The hope in Baltimore is that, after a chaotic past year, the Ravens’ special teams will return to form. They already have sure-thing starters in punter Jordan Stout and long snapper Nick Moore. Can they figure out the rest in time for Week 1?

“I thought this spring we got after the fundamentals,” Horton said. “We started to build the standard and the expectations for what we want as Ravens special teams. We are just going to bring these guys along, and I’m looking forward to having each and every one of these guys develop and continue to grow as we continue this training camp and into those preseason games.”