For Justin Tucker, 2024 could be a season of all's well that ends well.
After midseason struggles with a career-high eight field goal misses, Tucker finished by making his final 28 kicks (five field goals and 23 extra points).
But for a perfectionist like Tucker and an organization like the Ravens, they'll spend the offseason not ignoring this year's tough times but looking to improve because of them.
Head Coach John Harbaugh said he had a great, "really long, honest" conversation with Tucker after the season ended.
"Maybe we all saw that Justin Tucker is human," Harbaugh said.
"It's hard to be a great kicker in this league and be as consistent as he's been, and he ran into that – this adversity – probably a lot later in his career than most of these guys do, but it's something that probably had to happen in terms of his growth as a player and even as a performer."
Tucker still stands as the most accurate kicker in NFL history with an 89.1 career field-goal percentage. He's one spot above the Chiefs' Harrison Butker, who also had some struggles this season. In seventh position is the Texans' Ka'imi Fairbairn, who missed two field goals in the Texans' playoff loss.
Even the best kickers sometimes go through rough patches, and Harbaugh said he saw Tucker go through a mental battle this season.
Harbaugh compared it to a golfer who has to replicate the same motion over and over again. The steps for Tucker were to stay balanced, follow through, and hit the football clean. He was consistently making kicks in practice, but it wasn't transferring to games perhaps because he wasn't in the "right frame of mind."
It was up to Tucker – and Tucker alone – to overcome that, Harbaugh said.
"To pull himself out of that was going to be the test, and the fact that he went through that, pulled himself out of it ... I think that's going to serve him well going forward in his career," Harbaugh said.
In the training camp before the 2012 season, the Ravens brought in Tucker – an undrafted rookie with swagger – to compete with veteran Billy Cundiff, who had months earlier missed a short game-tying field goal attempt in the AFC Championship in New England. Cundiff was only two years removed from an All-Pro season, but Tucker beat him out.
Since then, Tucker has been the Ravens' GOAT kicker – a weapon that no other team in the league had. He was consistent, clutch, and could drill kicks from longer distances than his peers.
The Ravens had some camp legs in years since that have gone on to have great careers elsewhere, such as Denver's Wil Lutz, but they never had a true competition. After this season's troubles, Harbaugh was asked about whether Baltimore could bring in competition this summer for Tucker, who still has three years remaining on his contract.
"Well, I think Justin's going to go down as – in my opinion – if not the best kicker of all time, one of the best, and I think he finished the season strong," Harbaugh said.
"We'll have those discussions, but I think I have every expectation that Justin's going to be a great kicker for us next year and moving forward."
