Ravens coach John Harbaugh named Tyler Loop the team’s starting kicker Saturday night, erasing any doubts about whether the sixth-round pick had done enough this summer to succeed Justin Tucker in his rookie year.

Loop made five of six field goal attempts in the Ravens’ 31-13 road win over the Dallas Cowboys and is 6-for-8 overall in two preseason games. He has three field goal makes from at least 50 yards (51, 52 and 53 yards), and both of his misses have come from at least 46 yards (46 and 50 yards). In training camp practices, Loop unofficially is 78-for-84 (92.9%) on field goal attempts.

His emergence marks a new era for Ravens special teams. From 2012 to 2024, Tucker was the team’s only kicker in the regular season and playoffs. No one in NFL history has a better field goal percentage than the five-time All-Pro. But Tucker’s release in May, after The Banner reported that 16 massage therapists from eight spas and wellness centers in the Baltimore area had accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior, left the starting job up for grabs.

Loop “will be the kicker,” Harbaugh said Saturday. “He has earned it, and he’ll get another chance to get back out there next week and kick some more and just keep improving. But I just appreciate the fact that he wants to make them all, but he had a good night.”

Loop didn’t know he’d been named the Ravens’ starting kicker until reporters told him after Saturday’s game — “That’s fun,” he said. “It’s special” — but there was little mystery about the team’s intentions. Despite undrafted rookie John Hoyland’s promising performance early in camp, the Ravens released him Aug. 2, leaving Loop as the only kicker on their 90-man roster.

“I’m just really, really excited to be in Baltimore,” he said Saturday. “It was one of those things — just through the whole draft process, and even the last three months — I’ve just seen so many things fall into place. ... For me, faith is a big part of my life. Seeing how orchestrated and well things have fallen into place, it just makes me really thankful to be here. I love the staff, love my teammates. Just being in the city of Baltimore is really fun. I’m excited to be here for that. That’s really fun. But you have to earn it every day still. So it’ll be good.”

Loop cemented his starting credentials Saturday in Arlington, Texas, about a 45-mile drive from where he grew up in Lucas. Over four seasons at Arizona, where he made 67 of 80 field goal attempts (83.8%), Loop developed into an NFL draft prospect, his powerful right leg grabbing the attention of senior special teams coach Randy Brown.

The Ravens drafted Loop 186th overall in April, making him the first kicker to be selected in the franchise’s 30-year history. Tucker was released just over a week later; the NFL has since suspended him 10 games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Now, as the Ravens look for their first Super Bowl title since Tucker’s rookie year, they will entrust another first-year kicker with delivering in the clutch.

“We have to come earn it every day and also every rep in my position,” Loop said. “You want to show up and stay in your process with your guys. [Long snapper] Nick [Moore] and [holder/punter] Jordan [Stout] do an awesome job for me. My goal is to check off my process every time, strike the ball well and make kicks. If that doesn’t happen, my name is going to get called again, so you have to be able to step back up, go through it again and earn it.”