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Archive photo · 31 August 2013Kansas City Chiefs Sign Justin Tucker To Practice Squad After 10-Game Suspension
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Chiefs sign Justin Tucker to their practice squad after 10-game suspension for sexual misconduct allegations. Tucker has not played in the NFL since January 2025 following the allegations.
Tucker returns to Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs signed former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker to their practice squad on Wednesday after he served a 10-game NFL suspension for violating the league's personal conduct policy.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid defended the move by saying, "He's done his suspension, you know, took care of that business there. But I'll leave it at that for you," and he added that the team had "done our homework" before signing Tucker.
The AFP report said Tucker, 36, had not played in the league since January 2025, when allegations made against him by 16 massage therapists in the Baltimore area first emerged.
The Chiefs moved for Tucker as back-up after Harrison Butker struggled, with the BBC noting Butker missed five of his 16 field-goal attempts this season and had missed two from three in a 20-3 defeat by the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.
Reid, Tucker, and the backlash
Reid told reporters that the Chiefs would not expand on what he meant by homework, saying, "I'm not going to get into all that," while he also said, "To bring him here, I did some homework." Tucker had initially rejected the accusations as "unequivocally false," and he later said he "had never intended to disrespect anyone, cross any boundary or make anyone feel uncomfortable."
Fox News quoted Craig Carton criticizing the signing and saying, "Remember what Kansas City is," before arguing that Tucker faced a 10-game suspension after "24 different women accused him of inappropriate sexual misconduct." The Guardian framed the decision as coming after Butker's poor start, while it quoted Reid saying, "We try to do our homework the best way we possibly can and talk to a lot of people, make sure things are OK."
What comes next
The Chiefs kept Harrison Butker on the active roster while Tucker joined the practice squad, and the BBC said Reid indicated he would leave Butker in place as the team evaluated the situation. The New York Times reported that Reid confirmed Butker would be the Chiefs' kicker this week, but it said the move put pressure on him to perform in Denver.
The NFL Network and ESPN reported that the Chiefs worked out three kickers this week and elected to sign Tucker to add competition to the kicking room. The New York Times added that Tucker did not appeal the suspension and said he wanted to "put this difficult episode behind him and get back on the field as soon as possible," as the Chiefs weighed the immediate need for points against the controversy surrounding the signing.