The Baltimore Ravens did more than add another kicker on Monday. By signing Jake Moody to the practice squad for the second time this season, they reopened the competition around Tyler Loop and turned a routine roster move into a fresh evaluation of the position.
That matters because Baltimore has already seen this movie once. Moody’s first stint with the Ravens began on Aug. 30, when the team brought him in after Loop missed two field goals in the preseason finale. Now he is back again after Loop’s recent misses have put renewed pressure on the rookie kicker.
Loop’s first three weeks offered some early stability. He went 5-for-6 on field goals, with the lone miss coming on a blocked kick. But the last three weeks have shifted the conversation. In Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns, Loop missed a 49-yard field goal in the fourth quarter of a three-point loss, and that miss was followed by another costly miss in an important situation.
The Ravens’ decision to bring Moody back makes the evaluation harder to ignore. Baltimore is not treating the kicking job as settled, and the timing of the signing makes that clear. Moody’s return immediately puts Loop back under scrutiny, especially after a preseason in which he struggled badly enough to prompt the Ravens to look elsewhere.
Jesse Minter was blunt about the standard Loop has to meet. “Missed field goals are completely results-driven,” he said.
Moody arrives with a longer track record than Loop, at least in terms of career volume. He has made 64 of 82 field goals and 107 of 110 extra points. That history gives Baltimore a second option to compare against Loop as the team continues to sort out the position.
For now, the Ravens have turned their kicking situation into an active competition rather than a settled depth-chart issue. Loop still has the job, but Moody’s second stint in Baltimore makes it clear the team is watching every kick closely.