INDIANAPOLIS — Neither Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta nor coach John Harbaugh had spoken to reporters since The Baltimore Banner’s investigation in late January that detailed allegations against kicker Justin Tucker.

Predictably, a significant portion of the questions DeCosta and Harbaugh received on Day 1 of the NFL Scouting Combine concerned those allegations against Tucker, who has been accused by 16 massage therapists of sexual misconduct. The NFL is investigating the matter and DeCosta acknowledged that he’s spoken to league investigators.

Of the 22 questions DeCosta was asked in a news conference that lasted roughly 18 minutes, six of them were about Tucker’s status or the team’s position. Harbaugh spoke for about 15 minutes — seven of his 24 questions related to Tucker.

Other topics included pending free agency and the futures of left tackle Ronnie Stanley and tight end Mark Andrews.

Here are the four biggest takeaways:

Ravens may release Tucker, but the decision isn’t imminent

Tucker’s future with the Ravens remains murky after DeCosta twice described the allegations against the kicker as “serious” and “concerning.” However, DeCosta didn’t immediately distance the Ravens from the most accurate kicker in NFL history.

“I think we are fortunate that the league is doing an investigation,” DeCosta said. “We’ll wait as patiently as we can for as much information as we can, and we’ll make our decisions based on that.”

In other words, the Ravens may not make a decision on Tucker until the NFL releases the findings of its investigation and any potential discipline. That could take weeks, if not months.

“The biggest thing that we have to do, first of all, is look at every single case differently,” DeCosta said. “There are no absolutes. In this case, we’re still awaiting as much information as possible. Again, we’re fortunate that the league has come down to Baltimore. I met with the league. I believe the league is meeting with other people in Baltimore as well. We’ll wait for the details of that investigation, and we’ll make a decision based on that.”

DeCosta made clear that there wasn’t a zero-tolerance policy that was guiding the team’s decision-making in regard to Tucker’s status. Owner Steve Bisciotti has never put a zero-tolerance policy in place.

In a 2015 interview with ESPN, former team president Dick Cass stated clearly that the Ravens look at each situation independently and “it’s not a zero-tolerance policy at all.” Current team president Sashi Brown said at the owners’ meetings last March that the team’s policy hasn’t changed.

Harbaugh is believed to be the only Ravens official to mention a zero-tolerance policy when responding to the initial suspension of quarterback Deshaun Watson in 2022, where he said, “Basically, we’re kind of zero tolerance. You have to know the truth, you have to try and understand the circumstances, but we’ve stayed away from that particular situation.”

Per a team statement Tuesday, “The Ravens don’t have a written, definitive zero-tolerance policy. Each situation stands on its own and actions will be determined after all of the facts are known.”

The Ravens and the NFL are still in that process with Tucker, and they may be for a while. For now, it’s best to describe the 13-year kicker’s future with the team as tenuous.

Ravens will likely add a kicker in the coming weeks

The Ravens haven’t drafted a kicker in the history of their franchise, but that may change come April. Harbaugh acknowledged as much.

“We’re going to look at every single position, but certainly different years, you’re going to look at different positions,” Harbaugh said. “We’re looking at kickers, we’re looking at a lot of positions. We’re looking at every position, but I’d say the kicker position would have been a priority no matter what because Justin is our kicker, we love him, and I always would have expected him to keep going forever, but nobody goes forever. So, we have to look at every position like we do.”

In their end-of-season news conference, DeCosta and Harbaugh downplayed the need to add summer competition for Tucker, who is coming off a season in which he converted a career-low 73.3 percent of field goal attempts. However, the Ravens typically add an extra kicker for training camp anyway.

There will obviously be a greater sense of urgency to get a higher-quality contingency plan for Tucker this offseason beyond just adding the usual camp leg.

“Like every position, we’re going to evaluate and rank the board,” DeCosta said. “We’ve been doing that for the last 29 years. We’re blessed to have a really good kickers coach in Randy Brown, who does a phenomenal job evaluating punters and kickers and long snappers for us every single season. We’ll meet with Randy throughout the process. Over the coming weeks, he’ll travel all over the country looking at these guys, and we’ll build the best board that we can.”

The kickers at the NFL combine include Miami’s Andres Borregales, Florida State’s Ryan Fitzgerald, Arizona’s Tyler Loop and Pittsburgh’s Ben Sauls. The Ravens will do homework on all of them and many more available kickers.

Ravens feeling good about chances of re-signing Stanley

The Ravens lose quality free agents every offseason, and they, of all teams, understand that their chances of re-signing a player decrease drastically when the player hits free agency and is available to teams awash in salary-cap space. Stanley is less than two weeks away from officially entering the open market, where he’d be one of the available players at a position of need.

The Athletic ranked Stanley as the league’s third-best free agent. Yet, both DeCosta and Harbaugh didn’t sound like they expected to lose Stanley.

“I think we’ll probably keep Ronnie,” Harbaugh said.

Ronnie Stanley was named a Pro Bowler for the second time in his career in 2024. (Denny Medley / Imagn Images)

Earlier, DeCosta acknowledged that the team will meet with Stanley’s agent, Kim Miale, while in Indianapolis. He, too, expressed confidence that a deal between the two sides will come at some point.

“You never want to say 100 percent, but I feel good that we’ll have a good, healthy debate, a good process,” DeCosta said. “I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to get a deal done.”

Stanley, who turns 31 next month, has talked about how much it means to him to be a longtime Raven and potentially finish his career where it started. He took a $7.5 million pay cut to stay in Baltimore last year, and then he played all 17 games for the first time in his career and garnered his second Pro Bowl berth.

It seems highly unlikely that the Ravens would outbid an offensive tackle-needy team for Stanley’s services. However, they may not necessarily have to if they’re able to get a deal done over the next 10 days. It’s one of DeCosta’s priorities. That was made clear Tuesday.

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Ravens keeping options open with Andrews

DeCosta says nothing by accident. And sometimes what he doesn’t say is notable. DeCosta had a lengthy response when asked about Andrews’ future with the team. Yet, nowhere during his near-150-word response did he make any assurances that the three-time Pro Bowler and the franchise’s all-time leader in touchdown receptions will remain in Baltimore.

“Mark is a great player,” DeCosta said. “We’re blessed to have three really good tight ends under contract this year. They all contribute in different ways. Their chemistry, their camaraderie, their impact on the offense, their relationship with the other skill guys is great. I mean, Mark is going to go down as one of our great players — he’ll be in the Ring of Honor someday. I love having Mark on the team. He’s an amazing player. I know he’s going to have an amazing season.”

That there’s even a question about Andrews’ status is a result of Baltimore’s tight salary-cap situation. The Ravens are projected to have less than $15 million of cap space, and they’ll have a lot to do with that money. Waiving or trading Andrews, meanwhile, would create $11 million of space.

Andrews, 29, is entering the final year of his contract — so are fellow tight ends Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar. Likely is viewed as an ascending player, and he doesn’t turn 25 until April. If the Ravens don’t feel like they have the money to extend both Andrews and Likely, it certainly would be understandable if they went with the younger option.

But it also seems unlikely that Baltimore would lose a popular and still productive player like Andrews for nothing this offseason. However, if another team was interested in trading for him, that could impact its plans.

“We’ll figure out all of the roster machinations over the coming weeks, but I can tell you, there’s no bigger fan of Mark Andrews than me,” DeCosta said. “He’s been a blessing to have on the team. His leadership, the way he approaches the game, his attention to detail — he’s just one of those guys.”

(Top photo of Ravens GM Eric DeCosta: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)