The Baltimore Ravens have put Tyler Loop on notice.
After a rough preseason, they added Jake Moody to the practice squad, giving Loop real competition for the first time in 2026. That move came with a clear message: the job is no longer sitting there untouched. Head coach Jesse Minter still said he expects Loop to be the kicker in Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts, but the ground underneath the second-year pro has started to wobble.
General manager Eric DeCosta didn’t exactly soften that reality.
“We gotta make kicks. Fresh set of legs to look at, evaluate, compare, see how it all works out,” DeCosta said.
“It’s a performance business. We gotta do our job…Looking at it this preseason, we decided it was probably worthwhile to bring somebody else in to see how they look.”
Loop still has the early edge, but the leash is short.
This is a different place than he was in not long ago. His preseason struggles only sharpened concerns that had already been building since the Week 18 miss that ended Baltimore’s 2025 season. Whatever cushion he once had is gone, and now every kick is going to be judged with a lot less patience.
The Ravens already know Loop can look good when nobody is keeping score. He had an excellent training camp.
The problem is what happens when the pressure rises and the moment gets bigger. That’s where the questions have followed him, and that’s where the doubts got louder this summer.
The long ball remains the biggest issue. Loop has shown plenty of leg strength, but the consistency hasn’t followed.
In his rookie season, he went 1-for-4 from 50-plus yards. In this preseason, he was 1-for-3 from that range.
The results haven’t changed much.
That was reflected in his preseason performance metrics, which put Loop at a horrific -4.05. That ranked 39th among 42 kickers.
Now Moody is in the mix, and the Ravens are giving themselves another option. Moody has been inconsistent too, which makes this less about a clean answer and more about two kickers trying to separate themselves. For Loop, the path forward is simple enough: he has to make kicks and win back trust.
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