Finding a new kicker this offseason took Ravens Senior Special Teams Coach Randy Brown on a coast-to-coast search.
Brown was looking for more than just a strong leg. He wanted to feel a connection. He wanted his intuition and vast experience to tell him when he had found the right prospect.
That moment occurred for Brown during a two-and-a-half-hour dinner at a restaurant in Tucson, Ariz., with Tyler Loop, the Ravens' new kicker. Sitting across the table, Brown listened intently as Loop explained his methodical process for kicking a football in the sweet spot, down to the exact lace he's aiming for. At one point, tables and chairs were moved, so Loop could show Brown instead of just talking.
After that dinner, Brown sent a text to Head Coach John Harbaugh.
"I think we have our guy," Brown's text read.
Loop is the guy, and Brown is his guru. The University of Arizona product is the kicker Brown wanted Baltimore to draft, and his wish was granted when Loop was selected in the sixth round, the first kicker drafted in franchise history.
So far, that decision looks like the right one. Harbaugh officially named Loop the kicker for Week 1 after he made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts during Saturday night's preseason victory over the Dallas Cowboys. Loop has made six of eight attempts during the preseason, displaying impressive leg strength while making three kicks from 50+ yards.
More than talent, Loop has displayed impressive resilience and moxie, thrust into a challenging situation as Justin Tucker's successor on a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Both times when Loop missed a kick during a game, he responded by making the next one. He has shown that same trait in practice, a kicker who is not easily rattled.
"That even builds more confidence; when maybe you fall short of your process once, but then you can come back and just go back into that process," Loop said. "It builds those repetitions and just makes you feel more confident and comfortable."
That's what Brown is looking for. During his distinguished career as a kicking specialist, Brown has scouted and developed a lengthy list of kickers that includes Matt Stover, Graham Gano, Stephen Hauschka, Wil Lutz, Tucker, Billy Cundiff, Cameron Dicker, and Kaare Vedvik.
Brown is a stickler for details, not only when he works with kickers, but when he scouts them.
"When I interview a guy, I want to know, what is your process?" Brown said. "Meaning, how do you practice? How many kicks a day do you take during practice? What's your lifting schedule? What's your sleeping schedule? What's your eating schedule? Come gameday, well, what's your warmup schedule? How many kicks do you practice? How many 'no steps'? How many one steps? How many two steps? At each end, what do we do?"
The Ravens trust Brown implicitly when it comes to assessing kicking talent.
"He knows what he's looking for," Harbaugh said. "He knows how to teach it. The fundamentals that he teaches – he taught me the fundamentals of kicking, way back in Philly in the early 2000s. I learned from him about the kicking technique.
"He's brought the best out in kickers here. All the kickers that have come through the system here – even when they didn't become the kicker here, they became the kicker somewhere else. It kind of shows you how good he is at what he does."
However, everyone knew there would be intense scrutiny on the successor to Tucker, the most accurate kicker in NFL history who the Ravens released in May. Brown said he initially had about 30 kickers on his list and he narrowed it to 10 that he believed had a chance to become a Raven.
"The difference between kicking in Baltimore, which is arguably one of the hardest places to kick in the National Football League, to kicking at New Orleans or kicking in Dallas … I had to find who could actually kick a ball the way that we need it kicked," Brown said. "There's not a lot. There's got to be probably five [or] six guys that came out of this class that could kick, but I think only about two of them could kick outdoors, in my opinion."
Brown calls Loop's leg strength "elite," but a kicker can't become great without being consistent, particularly in clutch situations. Loop will have to pass many tests, but he has already aced an important one by beating out undrafted rookie John Hoyland in the kicker competition. Brown credited Hoyland for being good enough to push Loop to a higher level during training camp.
"Thankfully, John and Tyler both really liked each other, and they worked really well together," Brown said. "We are where we are today because of the competition, and that the Ravens allowed me to bring two kickers in. A lot of teams just say, 'Three specialists, that's all you've got.'"
Loop, long snapper Nick Moore, and holder/punter Jordan Stout spend every day with Brown chasing perfection, striving to make every Loop kick sail through the uprights like clockwork.
The regular season has yet to begin, but there's a lot to like so far. Brown trusts in Loop, a young kicker who has the makeup and mindset the Ravens are looking for.
"Too many kickers just look at the uprights," Brown said. "We have a process, regardless of if there's one second left in the game, or you're on the opening drive and you ran a kickoff back, and you've got to run out and do a 33-yard extra point.
"It's the process, that's what we really want. We found a guy that has that process."
