Harbaugh says cutting ties with Justin Tucker was a ‘complex’ decision for the Ravens

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) - Before Baltimore cut ties with Justin Tucker early this month, coach John Harbaugh said whatever the Ravens decided to do would be a football decision.

That doesn’t mean it was simple.

Harbaugh was available to local reporters Wednesday for the first time since the Ravens announced May 5 they were releasing Tucker. The five-time All-Pro kicker had been accused by over a dozen massage therapists of inappropriate sexual behavior, according to reporting by the Baltimore Banner. The NFL said it would investigate, but it’s not clear when that process will conclude.

"It was a complex decision-making process, and I’m a part of it," Harbaugh said, adding that owner Steve Bisciotti, president Sashi Brown and executive vice president Ozzie Newsome were involved in the move, along with general manager Eric DeCosta.

"You're talking about arguably the best kicker in the history of the game, and like we said, it's multilayered. It's complicated, 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,” Harbaugh added. “I think if you step back and take a look at all the issues and 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. That was the move that we decided to make, so in that sense, it's a football decision."

The Ravens drafted kicker Tyler Loop out of Arizona this offseason, and they also signed undrafted rookie kicker John Hoyland of Wyoming.

When the team moved on from Tucker, DeCosta released a statement citing "current roster" considerations as being part of the decision. Harbaugh is now suggesting that Tucker’s uncertain availability may have played a bigger role than his performance, which slipped noticeably for much of last season.

"If it was just a black and white, simple thing, then it would be easy to understand, but I think anybody can look at the whole thing in perspective and say, 'OK, we've got to have a kicker ready to go, and there's a whole lot of moving parts of that deal,'” Harbaugh said. “It’s just the reality of it, and you're faced with that."

Harbaugh also addressed another big issue from the past month - the loss of safety Ar’Darius Washington to a torn Achilles tendon.

"It was a clean tear, if you want to call it that, so it's one of those ones that heals … it's the more quick-healing version," Harbaugh said. "Ar'Darius tells me he'll be back in November. He's always been a quick healer. I'm looking at November, December in my mind, so yes, we're counting on him being back."