Tyler Loop’s Rookie Season Wasn’t Bad. The Ravens Should Sign A Veteran Kicker Anyway

No Raven had a more visceral reaction to the team’s star-crossed 2025 season collapsing than rookie kicker Tyler Loop.

But it would also be impossible for Loop, who struggled down the stretch and had difficulty adjusting to the NFL’s new kick-off rules, not to take his individual failure – and the collective fall-out with the organization firing likely future Hall of Fame coach John Harbaugh – personally. It begs questions about his confidence and psyche moving forward (will discuss that with former NFL kicker turned kicking coach/consultant Nick Novak on “The Daily Flock” in the coming weeks as his schedule permits).

It would be cavalier and unfair to cite Loop’s 44-yard kick sailing wide Week 17 in Pittsburgh from 44 yards as the reason a team picked as Super Bowl favorites couldn’t even reach the postseason in a shockingly-pedestrian AFC. It had much more to do with an awful defense that allowed a shoddy Pittsburgh passing game with a mostly-washed quarterback to move the ball up and down the field twice late in the season, with a roster devoid of pass rush once Nnamdi Madubuike went down for the season

And with a 90-man offseason roster and requisite cap space and with it requiring a minimum commitment (and limited guarantees) to bring in a proven veteran kicker (like Matt Prater), I can see no reason not to add competition. Let’s see what it brings out in the youngster. Let’s simulate some of the pressure that comes on the biggest stage later in the season.

The reality of Loop’s rookie season was that he didn’t face a veteran presence all summer, and he didn’t have to make a truly big kick until the one that cemented Baltimore losing the division and missing the playoffs. That’s not to say that Loop won’t be a very good NFL kicker for a long time, and it’s impossible not to have great faith in Ravens kicking coach Randy Brown. But shaking the dynamic up might be telling.

How To Quantify Loop’s Rookie Year?

Loop’s ability to kick for distance remains to be seen, but his rookie season was largely solid. When compared with every rookie kicker to kick in at least 10 games, since 2015 (the kicking game continues to evolve, so a reasonable sample size), Loop holds up. Only three rookie kickers since 2015 made more field goals than the 30 Loop converted – Rodrigo Blankenship (Colts, 32), Brandon Aubrey (36, Cowboys), Harrison Butker (38, Chiefs), not a bad class to be a part of at all.

Loop was seventh among 33 rookie kickers (10 or more games) since 2015 at 88.2% overall (the six ahead of him all have had legit NFL careers). Loop made 89% of his kicks between 40-49 yards, sixth among this group, and he excelled on extra points, making 44 of 46. All of that portends well for his future.

His rookie season also looks similar to the highly-successful kicker replaced in Justin Tucker. Tucker was 30/33 overall on field goals in 2012; Loop was 30/34. Tucker was 10/13 from 40-49 and Loop was 8/9. Tucker was perfect on extra points, however, and also 4/4 from 50+ and he’d go on to lead the NFL in FG made and attempted in year two, while going 6/7 from 50+.

Loop attempted just four kicks of 50 yards or more – certainly telling – and he made just one, and he was just 1-for-3 from 40-plus from Week 12 on, and he really struggled to land the ball in the zone on kickoffs and that Week 17 miss is the kind of thing that might haunt even a far more established kicker. It’s kind of shocking to me how infrequently he was even sent out to attempt anything longer than 40 yards once the weather changed; perhaps it was happenstance and circumstance, but it does feel a little odd.

At a time when coaches are leaning more into 50-yard attempts, and with a rookie head coach who has a rookie offensive coordinator calling players on one of the least experienced staffs in the NFL, I can’t help but wonder if trying to simulate pressure and offering some competition isn’t in order at a position as critical as this.

I figure Loop will be most likely be fine, but what’s the harm in having someone with an NFL resume also on the roster taking the kicks when he rests his leg and providing a push or a nudge? Preferably someone who has made a postseason field goal before.

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