The Ravens finally signed their kicker Justin Tucker to a 4-year extension. Tucker is one of the three best placekickers and kickoff guys in the NFL. He had been reluctantly willing to play under the franchise tag in 2016 if a long-term deal could not be struck, but was quite clearly unwilling to re-sign with the Ravens in 2017 without a long-term deal in place in 2016.
Usually kickers don’t attract such dramatic tension when their contracts come up for renewal. Not sure why the Ravens went down to the final hours of a signing deadline to get this deal done, but I reckon Ozzie was pressing for the most salary-cap-friendly terms he could get while Tucker was holding out for the best deal an NFL kicker ever got.
Tucker agreed to terms on a four-year deal worth a reported $16.8 million, per ESPN, less than a half hour before the 4 p.m. deadline. It keeps one of the game’s best kickers and team’s most well-liked players in purple and black through the 2019 season.
“Justin has become a cornerstone for our team, and we are happy to get this contract completed,” General Manager Ozzie Newsome said. “What is good for the Ravens right now is that we have our Pro Bowl special teams group – Sam [Koch], Morgan [Cox] and Justin – signed through the next three seasons.”
Tucker reportedly received the most guaranteed money of any kicker in NFL history ($10.8 million). Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski’s $17.2 million salary over four years barely surpasses Tucker’s total money, and they each reportedly received $6 million signing bonuses.
“You want to talk about getting deals done in the eleventh hour?” Tucker said. “At the end of the day, that’s all that matters. We were able to get it done.”
“The word of the week has tended to be ‘acrimonious,’” Tucker said. “I think we all wanted to make sure there was no animosity from this point moving forward.”
“I’m pumped that we were able to get it done,” Tucker said. “Now we can move forward and focus on what’s important. For me, that’s making kicks. For all of us, it’s winning games.”
Is Tucker worth all the drama? For a team with an offense that didn’t score enough TD’s last season, you bet he’s worth it. He’s near-automatic from 45 yards in—get the 3 points and live to play another series.
Tucker is the second-most accurate kicker of all time, converting 87.8 percent of his field-goal attempts. Last year, he became the fastest kicker in NFL history to score 500 points (60 games). He has missed just six field goals from under 50 yards over his career (112-of-118).
Tucker was named to the 2013 Pro Bowl after hitting 92.7 percent of his field goals (38-of-41), including a game-winning 61-yard boot in Detroit. His clutch kicking, including a double-overtime winner in Denver, helped the Ravens reach, and win, Super Bowl XLVII.
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