Thursday, two weeks after the end of the Baltimore ravens season ended with the divisional round of the NFL qualifiers, Baltimore banner reported accounts of six women who said that the Ravens Justin Tucker booter is committed to sexual fault and inappropriate behavior during massage sessions that took place from 2012 to 2016.
The publication began an investigation into Tucker after receiving a tip in early January, and its report details the experiences of six spas massage therapists in the Baltimore region which declared that Tucker exhibited its genitals during the sessions – and in two cases , has established unwanted sexual contact with therapists. Representatives of two local spas have declared to Banner This tucker was prohibited from their establishments for inappropriate behavior. According to a spokesperson for the Local Spa Ojas, Tucker was “immediately dismissed as a customer” in 2014 when a massage therapist reported an incident with him.
Tucker’s lawyers denied the accounts – according to which they are “impossible to prove” – and the Ravens bootter also published a statement on Thursday calling them “unequivocal” and accusing the Banner To “misinterpret events as harmful” to “generate clicks”. The Ravens published a statement saying that the team was aware of history and “will continue to monitor the situation”. NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy made a similar statement, saying that the league “will examine the question”.
The accounts detailed in the Banner Are horrible and, in some cases, recall those of the dozens of women who filed civil proceedings against Deshaun Watson in the early 2020s, which ultimately led to a suspension of 11 games for the Browns quarter in 2022. Massage therapists questioned interviewed. by Banner Said that Tucker had asked for treatment on his pelvis or interior while he had an erection, and that he had “stirred his pelvis several times to shake the sheets covering his genitals. Two of the women said Tucker had broken out against them with his exposed penis. Three of the women said they thought Tucker had ejaculated on the massage table after the sessions. Several women said they had tried to take additional measures to keep the massages appropriate – by depositing heavy heating pads on the tucker basin, or using a hand to keep it covered with a sheet, or using A tight “drape of diapers”.
“He was continuously moving his hips,” said a woman Banner. “Move his penis, stirring it, making him bounce back, denigrate the curtains.”
Another said, “We can say if it is intentional or simply an accident, and it was intentional.”
None of the women interviewed in history contacted the police after their interactions with Tucker, who, according to Kimberly Alexander, president of the Alliance for Massage Therapy, is common in situations involving high -level customers. It is largely because of the fear of the counterpoup and public ridicule – and because cases like these are very difficult to continue. “They are worried about their license; They are concerned about their reputation in the community; They are worried about their family’s response on this subject, “said Alexander Banner. At least one of the women who spoke out against Watson said she had received death threats after her public return.
When the news of Watson’s initial suspension in six games Broke in August 2022 (he was then brought to 11 games after a colony between the NFL and the NFL Players Association), the Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, told the media that he was not free Reveal his reflections directly on the issue. But it was not difficult to read between the lines. “I respect what Steve Bisciotti (owner of the Ravens) created here – and (team president) Dick Cass – really 10 years ago,” said Harbaugh after a training camp. “And basically, what we decided – what Steve and Dick have decided, we are still there: Ozzie, Eric, Pat Moriarty, who were involved in this – we are somehow a zero tolerance. You must know the truth, you must try to understand the circumstances, but we have stayed away from this particular situation when we write players (and) when we sign them as free agents.
“This is Steve’s decision, and I’m glad we have this policy.”
Harbaugh’s comments were widely celebrated at the time. Although the coach did not directly condemn the League or the Browns for having used Watson after an investigation punishable by the NFL revealed that the quarter-arre had established “undesirable sexual contact” with several women during the sessions From massage, he clearly indicated that the Ravens would not have rocha a player in a similar situation – and was one of the few coaches or executives of the NFL to express the feeling. The strong position of Harbaugh on this situation is relevant again Thursday after the shortage of Tucker’s news. And the treatment by the team of this, as the case evolves, should reveal if the Ravens really have a zero tolerance policy for the bad behavior of the players – or if it is only a policy of “Sort of zero tolerance”, to use the exact wording of Harbaugh.
He will also show if this franchise, which is now withdrawn from its shameful manipulation of the domestic violence of Ray Rice, learned from its past mistakes. Before the video knows of rice eliminating its fiancée then in a hotel elevator in 2014, the Ravens kept the rice on the list and published a statement saying: “We know that there is more in Ray Rice that this incident. ” After a joint press conference between Ray and Janay Rice, the team’s official Twitter account published a tweet that said: “Janay Rice says that she deeply regrets the role she played the night of the incident” – and deleted it until after after month ridicule.
The NFL initially gave Rice a suspension of two games after having conducted its own investigation, but suspended it indefinitely when the images of the interior of the elevator were published by Tmz Shortly after the start of the 2014 season. The Ravens immediately released the star back – with Harbaugh saying “(The images) is something we saw for the first time today … it changed things , of course ” – and Rice did not play another snapshot in the NFL. Bisciotti later admitted that the team had not done enough work investigating the case before the images of Rice hitting his fiancée were released and apologized for fans for his management of the situation.
The full mismanagement of the rice case has created a mess for the NFL, but it led to a overhaul of the personal conduct of the League, including the way in which the commissioner’s exemption list could essentially serve Remained suspension to players faced with criminal accusations or under an investigation into the NFL for domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse. Now it will be up to Roger Goodell to decide whether the NFL will investigate and if Tucker will finally be placed on the list of copies. (Watson never landed on the list of copies because he was not criminally charged, and the Texans held him out of the matches during the 2021 season, although he stayed on the active list .) The team could seek to recover some of Tucker’s salary bonuses if the League notes that it has violated personal driving policy. But it will be an elaborate process, probably involving independent lawyers and referees.
Tucker is the best marker of all time in Baltimore and was one of the most visible players in the region since its breakup as the best league botter in the 2010s, signing various approval agreements with companies local during his 13 -year career. He was a member of the Super Bowl winner team during the 2012 season and represented the Ravens in Seven Pro Bowls.
If the Ravens want to separate immediately from Tucker, they will probably have to free it. Cutting the 35 -year -old man, who comes from the worst season of his career, would lead to a ceiling of $ 7.5 million and would cost Baltimore $ 445,000 in the 2025 ceiling space by Spotrac. The team could make Tucker a post-June 1 cup, which spread its charge as a dead ceiling over two years and saves the team 4.2 million dollars in the 2025 ceiling space. This can have more financial sense For the team, but Harbaugh’s suggestion that Ravens could have a “zero tolerance” policy would imply that their decision will not be dictated by the structure of the league’s salary ceiling.
This is only the beginning of this story. More facts will be revealed in the coming months. But as things arise, six distinct women and two spas say that Tucker is committed to reprehensible behavior. The Ravens will have to answer in more than one declaration of two sentences at one point. And again, we will all look to see what they are doing.
Steven Ruiz
Steven Ruiz is an analyst of the NFL and QB Ranker in The Ringer since 2021. He is from DC which rooted all local teams with the exception of commanders. As a child, he knew enough ball not to choose the team belonging to Dan Snyder – but not enough to avoid choosing the Panthers.