Ravens' rookie made releasing Justin Tucker inevitable  

Justin Tucker's time with the Baltimore Ravens has come to an unceremonious end. The Ravens officially released their longtime kicker on Monday. 

And while opinions about why Baltimore made this move are all over the place, it's not surprising to those who have been paying attention. In fact, Tucker's days in Baltimore were instantly numbered the moment the Ravens drafted rookie Tyler Loop in the sixth round of last month's NFL Draft. 

When asked about the kicker position, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh tried to recently dance around the contrives surrounding Tucker. 

"I would just say from the standpoint of the investigation and all that, we don't know anything. We haven't been given any information, as it should be. It's all done the way it's done. So, we don't know anything along those lines, so you can't make any decisions based on that," Harbaugh said, via the team's official transcript, in reference to Tucker being accused of inappropriate behavior by at least 16 massage therapists."

"Every decision we make has to be based on football. There's a lot of layers to that. You've got a rookie kicker in here. We took him in the sixth round, early in the sixth round. He's a talented guy. Just from a football standpoint, salary cap, all the different things that you just take into consideration."

The Ravens' statement about releasing Tucker followed the same script. 

"Sometimes football decisions are incredibly difficult, and this is one of those instances. Considering our current roster, we have made the tough decision to release Justin Tucker," said general manager Eric DeCosta.