The Kansas City Chiefs signed Justin Tucker to their practice squad on Wednesday, giving the five-time All-Pro kicker a second chance in the NFL after serving a 10-game suspension last year for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
Tucker spent 13 seasons with the Ravens, earning a reputation as one of the league’s best kickers, before his tenure in Baltimore ended in controversy.
The Baltimore Banner reported in 2025 that he had been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 massage therapists at high-end spas, accusations that Tucker called “unequivocally false” and “tabloid fodder.”
The Ravens released him that May and while Tucker was never criminally charged or sued in civil court, the NFL suspended him for the first 10 games of the 2025 season, which Tucker served as a free agent; he became eligible for reinstatement last November.
“He’s done his suspension, you know? Took care of that business,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday, “And I’ll leave it at that”.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has struggled mightily the past two seasons, missing a pair of kicks in Sunday’s loss in Seattle, and the signing of Tucker provides some competition for him even though Reid said Butker would kick on Sunday November 1 in Denver.
The Chiefs also worked out Ben Sauls and Harrison Mevis before giving Tucker the open spot on their practice squad.
“Listen, Harrison, we love. I’ve told you that before. He’s one of my favourite guys,” Reid said.
“Sometimes things don’t go quite the way you want, and you work on that.
“He understands the business and how it works. We had a practice squad position open. Butker gets it. He knows that’s part of the business. He’s struggling a little bit and he gets it.”
Butker has missed 10 field-goal attempts and five PATs since the start of last season, the most in the league, and they’ve come at quite a cost. He’s the third-highest paid kicker in the league, carrying the sixth-highest base salary on the Kansas City roster.
Tucker, who turns 37 next month, had not been much better before he was released by Baltimore. He missed 10 kicks during the 2024 season, by far the most during a career that has included seven Pro Bowl selections.
The Chiefs have proven a willingness to give their players a second chance.
Kareem Hunt was brought back by the Chiefs
Last year, they brought back running back Kareem Hunt, whom the Chiefs had released years earlier after security footage showed him kicking a woman in a hotel hallway. They also signed current punter Matt Araiza, who was among multiple people accused of raping a woman at San Diego State.
Araiza claimed the encounters with the woman were consensual, the district attorney declined to file criminal charges, he later filed a defamation suit and pending cases were dropped with neither side admitting wrongdoing.
Asked what goes into making such decisions, Reid replied: “I try to do homework on it. See exactly what’s taken place. (Tucker) served his suspension. Spent time involved in it. That’s how I evaluate it.”
Tucker also has had some run-ins with his new team-mates, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce.
Two years ago, before the AFC championship game in Baltimore, the kicker was warming up in an area where Mahomes typically does his pregame work. The quarterback asked Tucker to move his gear, he responded by moving it ever-so slightly and Kelce promptly kicked his footballs and helmet away, leading to an exchange of words between them.
The Chiefs won the game 17-10, sending them back to the Super Bowl, where they beat San Francisco for their second straight title.
“It wasn’t like we had any beef that moment,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “At the end of the day, we’re just playing a game. You want to compete and you want to win. But it’s not like we had a longstanding beef that carries on. We won that game.”
Butker also has courted controversy during his time in Kansas City, though it’s been political rather than legal.
Several years ago, he made what he called a “very intentional” foray into politics when he delivered a polarising commencement address at Benedictine College in which Butker said, among other things, that most of the women receiving degrees were probably more excited about getting married and having children than beginning a professional career.
Butker later formed a political action committee for the 2024 election to encourage Christians to vote for “traditional values”.
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