Justin Tucker is back in the NFL.

And, yes, he deserves to be.

The Kansas City Chiefs are signing the former Baltimore Ravens star to their practice squad, according to multiple reports, giving arguably the greatest kicker in NFL history his first job since Baltimore released him in May 2025. Tucker will immediately provide competition for struggling Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker.

Predictably, Tucker’s return will generate controversy.

It should.

Sixteen massage therapists accused Tucker of inappropriate sexual behavior during massage sessions at Baltimore-area spas. Tucker denied the allegations. After conducting its own investigation, the NFL suspended him for 10 games for violating its Personal Conduct Policy.

Those allegations shouldn’t be waved away because Tucker was once one of the most popular athletes in Baltimore. They shouldn’t be dismissed because he kicked a football better than almost anyone who has ever lived.

But here’s the other part of the equation.

Tucker served the punishment imposed by the NFL.

So what exactly is supposed to happen now?

The NFL Has Already Answered This Question with Deshaun Watson

If the standard is that anyone disciplined for serious violations of the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy should never play professional football again, that’s an argument someone can make.

But that’s clearly not the standard the NFL operates under.

Just look at Cleveland.

Deshaun Watson is not merely employed by the Cleveland Browns in 2026. He’s their starting quarterback. He has started all seven games this season and is playing on the final year of the five-year, fully guaranteed $230 million contract Cleveland gave him in 2022. Watson was suspended 11 games that year after the NFL investigated allegations of sexual misconduct involving massage therapists.

Watson served his suspension and was allowed to return.

Tucker served his suspension and should be allowed to return, too.

This isn’t an argument that one man’s alleged behavior excuses another’s. It doesn’t. It’s an argument for consistency.

The NFL is filled with players who have made mistakes, exercised terrible judgment or faced serious allegations away from football. Some have been suspended. Some have been fined. Some have been released. And many have eventually received another opportunity.

Tucker shouldn’t be subject to a different set of rules simply because his case became public later in his career.

He was investigated.

He was punished.

He served the suspension.

Now football should decide what happens next.

And Football Might Ultimately Send Justin Tucker Home Anyway

That’s the fascinating part of Kansas City’s decision.

Tucker isn’t walking into Arrowhead Stadium as the Justin Tucker of 2016 or 2021. He’s 36 years old and hasn’t kicked in an NFL regular-season game since 2024.

And his final season with Baltimore was easily the worst of his career. Tucker made just 22 of 30 field goals in 2024, a career-low 73.3%, while missing five attempts from 50 yards or longer and two extra points.

That was stunning for a player who spent most of his career making difficult field goals look routine.

Tucker owns an 89.1% career field-goal percentage and remains the second-most accurate kicker in NFL history. He’s a seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time first-team All-Pro.

But reputations don’t put footballs through uprights.

If Tucker can’t still kick at an NFL level, Kansas City will release him. If he can, why shouldn’t he have a job?

Apparently, he hasn’t forgotten how. Tucker reportedly went 30-for-30 during his workout with Kansas City before earning the practice-squad deal. Meanwhile, Butker has created an opening. He’s just 11-for-16 on field goals this season and missed twice in Kansas City’s loss to Seattle on Sunday.

The Chiefs aren’t running a rehabilitation center. They’re trying to win football games.

Tucker now gets the opportunity to prove he can help them do that.

Justin Tucker Joining the Chiefs is Also Pretty Hilarious

There is one part of this story Ravens fans can appreciate regardless of where they stand on Tucker’s return.

Of all the teams – he’s signing with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Remember the 2023 AFC Championship Game?

Before Kansas City’s 17-10 victory over Baltimore, Tucker was warming up near Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Mahomes moved Tucker’s kicking equipment, and Kelce eventually tossed Tucker’s helmet and footballs out of the way.

Tucker later called the whole thing “kind of silly” and characterized it as gamesmanship.

Kelce had another description.

Tucker was “poking the bear.”

Well, apparently the bear is hiring.

Somewhere inside the Chiefs’ facility, there needs to be a ceremonial moment when Tucker walks into the locker room carrying his helmet and Kelce immediately picks it up and throws it across the room.

Welcome to Kansas City.

Justin Tucker Doesn’t Deserve Absolution. He Deserves an Opportunity.

There’s an important distinction here.

Signing Tucker doesn’t require anyone to declare him innocent of every allegation made against him. It doesn’t require the women who accused him of misconduct to forgive him. And it doesn’t require Ravens fans who were disturbed by the allegations to suddenly embrace him again.

It simply means his NFL career doesn’t necessarily have to end there. Professional sports have always allowed people to return after suspensions. The league imposed a 10-game penalty on Tucker, and Tucker served it.

If the NFL believed his conduct warranted permanent banishment, it had the ability to make that determination. It didn’t.

So now Tucker gets another chance.

Not another guaranteed decade.

Not another Pro Bowl.

Not a spot in Canton.

Another chance.

And what happens from here should largely be determined by what happens when Tucker puts his foot into a football. If the legendary leg is gone, Kansas City will discover that quickly enough and move on.

But if Justin Tucker can still kick?

Then he belongs in the NFL.

Because second chances can’t only be available to quarterbacks.