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We asked readers which position the Ravens should prioritize in the NFL draft. Baltimore has the No. 14 overall pick in this year’s draft, and the Ravens have another 10 projected picks in the event. The franchise looks to retool its roster after a disappointing 8-9 campaign in 2025. Here are the results from our online poll: Offensive line — 43% (149 votes) Edge rusher — 39% (133 votes) Interior defensive line — 8% (29 votes) Other — 6% (19 votes) Wide receiver — 3% (11 votes) Cornerback — 1% (3 votes) Here’s what some fans have said about Baltimore’s roster needs (answers have been edited for clarity and grammar): The Ravens, like most teams, need help at many positions. But I think they’re most immediate need is at pass rusher. Although the secondary has been criticized often, when a quarterback has a lot of time to throw, receivers will be open. For whatever reason, we have failed to develop a quality pass rusher recently. Quarterbacks are unable to throw passes while lying on their back. The Ravens failure to draft TJ Watt when they had that chance has haunted them for years, to the benefit of the Steelers. Offensive line is No. 2, and defensive line is No. 3. — Robert The games are won and lost in the trenches. Pass rush win rates lost the Ravens games last year. Offensive line missed blocks and assignments contributed to too many three-and-outs and decreased time of possession as well as short-yardage failures. Interior pressure is greater than edge pressure; Nnamdi Madubuike’s health and return are unknowns. Draft a top three technique player at No. 14 overall. Depending on free agency guards, edge rushers and corners in the subsequent rounds. — Anthony Bivins Draft a general manager. DeCosta has been cashing in on Ozzie Newsome’s reputation long enough. — Ed Priority No. 1 is to trade Lamar Jackson for as many top draft picks as possible and one Pro Bowl player. Lamar’s best years are behind him. He has never been a great passer, and his age and injuries have diminished his running abilities. Couple that with the fact that he has never been a team player, and has no agent to act as a go-between, and you have the nightmare that is the Ravens. The Lamar experiment is done. It had some great peaks and more dismal valleys. Try the home run trade with the Raiders for the No. 1 pick and Maxx Crosby. That’s forward thinking, not wishing upon a star. — SMJ Linemen on both sides. — Peter Davis Can we draft a new general manager? — Tom Jones Always the Ravens way … take the best player available! — Dustin Allen Offensive guard Vega Ioane from Penn State. — Mike Hutchins If we lose Tyler Linderbaum at center, we will have to address offensive line first. I’m hoping he stays but we need better guard play because neither Vorhees nor Falale played well enough for a Super Bowl contending team. Same with Marlon Humphrey, cut him after June 1, and save the cap hit. We desperately need an edge rusher, and I hope Oweh comes back with Minter calling the defensive plays. — Burl Wils Obviously they need in no particular order, edge rusher, offensive and defensive line upgrades and a true reliable WR as Bateman is not the answer. So just make sure the No.14 pick is the best choice, and do not waste it! — William Shinham Edge unless there’s a great offensive lineman. Please no wide receivers or defensive backs. — Miles That’s an easy question to answer. They will draft the best player available on their board like every year and fill needs through free agency. — Robert Kozlowski The Baltimore Sun reader poll is an unscientific survey in which website users volunteer their opinions on the subject of the poll. To see results from previous sports polls, go to baltimoresun.com/sportspoll View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — There’s plenty about the Ravens’ new coaching staff that remains unknown. Aside from his three coordinators, none of Jesse Minter’s assistants have spoken publicly since their hiring, leaving only job titles to fill the void. But conversations this week with players who worked closely with new defensive line coach Lou Esposito and outside linebackers coach Harland Bower offered a clearer picture of the lead assistants now entrusted with fixing one of Baltimore’s most urgent issues. The prospects described demanding teachers who emphasize effort, accountability and connection — a trio of qualities Minter believes can help improve Baltimore’s run defense and pass rush, with Esposito and Bower now in charge of the defensive front. For Minter, pedigree mattered less than purpose. In construction of his new coaching staff, he often used the phrases “connectors,” “teachers,” and ‘relationship-builders.” When I asked him Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine about his decision to hire a handful of assistants directly from the college ranks, Minter emphasized that teaching ability mattered more than experience at the highest level. “I think really good coaches are at all levels — high school, college, pro, different levels of college,” Minter said. “As you start putting together a staff, you’re looking for really good teachers, really good connectors that can be disciplined that creates discipline and allows you to push players in ways that you need to push them. I wasn’t really worried about where they came from.” Esposito (Michigan) and Bower (Duke) were part of a group of four defensive assistants Minter brought directly from the college ranks, joining safeties coach P.J. Volker (Navy) and defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator Mike Mickens (Notre Dame). Assistant defensive backs coach Miles Taylor also was brought in from Nebraska, though his stay in Lincoln was brief after he served as a coaching fellow for the Los Angeles Chargers last season following five years at South Dakota. Esposito replaces outgoing assistant Dennis Johnson, who joined John Harbaugh’s staff in New York, while Bower steps in for Maryland alumnus Matt Robinson, who initially also followed Harbaugh before joining Klint Kubiak’s staff in Las Vegas. Robinson and Johnson possess seven seasons of combined NFL coaching experience. Their hiring, paired with the Ravens reuniting with defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, reflect Minter’s belief that development offers the clearest path toward fixing a defensive front that failed to meet expectations last season. The Ravens finished with just 30 sacks, third-fewest in the NFL, and ranked 28th in pass rush win rate. The loss of defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike to a season-ending neck injury in Week 2 stripped the unit of its most disruptive presence, and the defense never fully rediscovered its ability to consistently pressure opposing quarterbacks. While the run defense improved over the course of the season, the lack of consistent pass rush and the unit’s secondary woes resulted in a No. 31-ranked pass defense. General manager Eric DeCosta acknowledged this week what the numbers already made evident. The Ravens must improve their pass rush and overall consistency across the defensive front. Reinforcement might be en route. Before DeCosta met with reporters Tuesday, he revealed he was bunkered in his downtown Indianapolis hotel room studying a pass rusher himself. DeCosta is charged with the personnel, but the responsibility of fixing and reteaching the front now belongs, in large part, to a pair of coaches whose reputations center around their ability to develop players and win the room. “[Bower] is a very energetic guy,” Duke defensive lineman V.J. Anthony Jr. said. “He’s going to give you his all. He’s going to push you to your limit and then push you even more. That made the whole position room better.” Anthony led Duke in 2025 in tackles for loss (13) and sacks (7 1/2). He credited Bower for instilling a formula that’ll stick with him in the pros as a projected mid-round pick in April’s NFL draft. Bower, according to Anthony, loves to teach the E+R=O mental model (Events + Response = Outcome), widely used across the performance consulting space, to his players. It was drilled every day at Duke, and could follow him to Baltimore, where he inherits a pass rush group that currently features second-year player Mike Green and Tavius Robinson. Veterans Kyle Van Noy and Dre’Mont Jones are pending free agents with the league’s legal tampering period set to begin March 9. “You can’t control the event and you can’t control your outcome, but you can always control your response,” Anthony said. “He’s been saying that since my freshman year, so that’s always stuck with me.” Duke linebacker Wesley Williams offered another analogy when asked about intricacies attached to his former coach. “[Bower] would chase us around the field,” the animated Williams said. “I’m not joking. He would grab you like a puppy and force you to the ball. Showing effort and grit is non-negotiable.” Bower’s energy was paired with a personal investment that extended beyond practice. Anthony vividly remembered regular gatherings at Bower’s home, dinners at local restaurants, and even a position group trip to the local fair this past season. All of it comes back to Bower’s commonly used E+R=O mental model that drills players on controlling their response, especially when it comes to a play-to-play basis on the football field. Too often last season, the Ravens allowed medium gains to turn into chunk plays, while they choked away several losses, including an unforgiving Week 1 stunner at Buffalo. Michigan defensive lineman Ray Benny described Ravens coach Jesse Minter as an even more energetic coach than Mike Macdonald. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) Esposito built similar trust at Michigan, where his players recalled a position coach whose effectiveness stemmed from consistency and a meticulous relationship-building process. That certainly sounds a lot like what Minter detailed about his vision following his arrival as fourth coach in franchise history. “My relationship with [Esposito] is good,” Michigan defensive lineman Ray Benny said. “We got really close over the past two years. That’s really big with me. I don’t really get close to too many people. Him and I had a good connection. I think he’s going to do great in the league.” Benny compared Minter’s leadership style with former Michigan and Ravens defensive coordinator and current Super Bowl-winning Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald. In fact, he described Minter as an even more energetic coach than the reigning Super Bowl winner. “His consistency is to come to work every day, it made us hungry,” Benny said. “We believed in [Minter] because he believed in us.” That belief now extends to the coaches Minter chose to bring with him to Baltimore. His own career path reflects the philosophy behind those decisions. Minter started coaching among the college ranks, first at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Indiana State and Georgia State, before he worked his way up the assistant ladder with the Ravens from 2017 to 2020. He then willingly returned to the college level, where he refined his approach as both a strategist and a developer at Vanderbilt and Michigan between 2021 and 2023, and then returned to the NFL under Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers in 2024. If anyone’s proven successful at transitioning back and forth, it’s Minter, and his experience should help with the coaches he’s brought along for the ride. Minter is trusting his gut in the staff he’s assembled, regardless of collective experience. The Ravens are hoping he made the right calls. There could be some mighty learning curves ahead for everyone involved, including Bower and Esposito. On Wednesday, we at least learned more about their approach and teaching skills through some NFL prospects who know them best. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSportsand instagram.com/JCTSports. Josh appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — The connective tissue between Ravens coach Jesse Minter and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald goes back years, to the long days inside the Ravens’ defensive meeting rooms from 2017 to 2020. Minter handled the defensive backs. Macdonald oversaw the linebackers. The friendship endured after their paths diverged, and the conversations never really stopped. So when Macdonald’s Seahawks lifted the Lombardi Trophy earlier this month, in just his second season as a head coach, Minter didn’t have to search far for the lesson. He had seen it before, this year and last with the Philadelphia Eagles. “It’s an O-line, D-line driven league,” Minter said Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine. “Just look at the Super Bowl winners of the last couple of years. I think that’s really where you start. How have these teams won that final game? Two years ago, it was the Eagles’ O-line, D-line driven. This year, Seattle — same deal. That’s always an area you’re trying to get better.” For Baltimore, that search is already underway. When the Ravens go on the clock with the 14th overall pick, Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods or Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell could fit the bill — disruptive, forceful players who reflect the kind of line-of-scrimmage dominance Minter is describing. Woods, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound interior defender, was among the prospects who met with Baltimore this week. Draft analyst Lance Zierlein described Woods less as a space-eating anchor than an “active brawler,” a player whose value lies in helping form what he called a pocket-collapsing collective. The most common comparison: Christian Wilkins. The main critique attached to Woods — shorter arms — doesn’t seem to trouble him. “It’s easy to say his arms are short, but what’s on tape is on tape,” Woods said. “One of the best things I do is getting control of a man who presumably has longer arms than me, striking him and discarding him. I don’t really see that as a problem.” There are already a few Baltimore threads in his orbit. Woods has known Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins since their recruiting days at Clemson. Production hasn’t been absent, either. Over the past two seasons, Woods recorded 12 tackles for loss and five sacks, along with 58 tackles, a pass breakup and a forced fumble — the sort of interior disruption that could help a Ravens defense that, per ESPN analytics, finished 28th in pass rush win rate and produced just 30 sacks, third fewest in the league. Help is needed on the edge, too. Outside linebackers Dre’Mont Jones, Kyle Van Noy and David Ojabo are all scheduled to reach free agency. The defensive line needs depth, too, given the uncertainty surrounding Nnamdi Madubuike’s neck injury. “There’s such immense pride in that building for how you play defense, and it hasn’t been up to their standard,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said Wednesday. He should know since he once worked in Baltimore’s scouting department. “When they’re at their best, they are big — big everywhere. “They want to be kind of a bully, and I think they got away from that a little bit.” Texas A&M defensive lineman Cashius Howell recorded 25 sacks over the past three seasons, including 11 1/2 last year. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) Howell, meanwhile, offers a different kind of appeal. The 6-2, 248-pound edge rusher piled up 25 sacks over the past three seasons, including 11 1/2 last year, and scouts are intrigued by the burst. “He’s got legit giddyup speed,” Jeremiah said, suggesting that Howell could threaten the 4.4-second range in the 40-yard dash. Both Woods and Howell are widely expected to hear their names called in the first round. But the Ravens could also pivot — perhaps toward Penn State guard Vega Ioane — and still address the defensive front later, given the depth of this year’s class. Penn State edge rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton, a former standout at Owings Mills’ McDonogh School, fits another familiar Ravens archetype: versatile, relentless, comfortable moving across the front. The organization has mined Penn State before, selecting Odafe Oweh and Adisa Isaac in recent years. “I feel like I could do whatever on the field,” Dennis-Sutton said. “I could play on the edge. I could play inside if you need me to. I could rush the punter.” The Ravens’ options are not confined to the draft. Related Articles Josh Tolentino: Ravens assistants with no NFL experience tasked with big fix | COMMENTARY Todd Monken, still in awe as Browns’ new coach, reflects on Ravens tenure Ravens OC Declan Doyle is a future head coach. Just ask Sean Payton. 5 things we learned from Ravens’ DeCosta, Minter at NFL scouting combine Ravens coach Jesse Minter settles into job, builds trust with Lamar Jackson Free agency — beginning with the legal tampering window March 9 — offers another path. One of the most prominent names potentially available is Cincinnati Bengals star edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, who led the league in sacks two seasons ago. He would come at a steep cost, though Baltimore could create cap flexibility if it extends or restructures quarterback Lamar Jackson’s contract. “It depends on a lot of factors,” general manager Eric DeCosta said. “Who’s available? What’s that contract going to look like? We certainly know that we have to augment the pass rush and improve there. When we look at the best defenses, we see a ferocious pass rush, and that was lacking this year for different reasons.” DeCosta also acknowledged that he likes this year’s class of pass rushers. “I feel certain that we’ll have a chance to add a couple draft picks this year who can help us on third downs,” he said. However it unfolds — draft, free agency, or some combination of the two — the need is clear, and the philosophy behind it is not particularly complicated. It is the same principle Minter saw up close years ago and again this winter from afar. “[With] the pass rush, there’s a lot of factors that go into rushing the passer well,” Minter said. “Sometimes it’s playing with the lead, sometimes it’s blitzing more. There are a lot of ways to affect it. I feel like we have some young, ascending players who can help us there. “And it’s always a position you’re looking for more.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken looked, above all, comfortable Wednesday afternoon at the NFL scouting combine — or at least comfortable in his choice of uniform for the moment. He was clad head to toe in Nike, including a baby blue Jordan-brand hoodie, gray track pants and sneakers that seemed to glide as much as step from one interview session to another. He paused when he reached the podium, glanced to either side, smiled and pointed skyward. “How cool is this?!” he said. “I’m between Mike Macdonald and Mike Vrabel.” For Monken, 60, the setting carried a certain symmetry. A month ago, the Cleveland Browns had made the somewhat surprising decision to hand him his first head-coaching job, making him one of the three oldest first-time head coaches in league history — joining David Culley, who was 65 when he took over the Houston Texans for one season in 2021, and Vic Fangio, who was 60 when he became coach of the Denver Broncos in 2019 and now serves as defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, Monken, once the architect of one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history in Baltimore, is the man charged with restoring order to a franchise that has spent much of the past two decades searching for a way out of the abyss. During his three seasons in Baltimore, the Ravens became the first team in league history to throw for at least 4,000 yards and rush for 3,000 in the same season. Quarterback Lamar Jackson claimed a second NFL Most Valuable Player Award and also reached career highs in passing yards and touchdowns. Cleveland presents, well, a different kind of canvas. Since 2002, the Browns have reached the playoffs only three times and won just one postseason game. Over the past decade, they have produced only two winning seasons. And the past two years were especially unforgiving: an 8-26 combined record that ultimately cost Kevin Stefanski his job. Which raises a natural question four weeks into Monken’s tenure: How is he adjusting to the role? “It’s all the stuff you don’t wanna do,” he said, smiling. “It’s everything besides the X’s and O’s. “I say that jokingly, but there is a lot more that comes with it.” Indeed, the job is less the play sheet that would often reside in his waistband than a building — and everything inside it. The training room and the rehabilitation schedules. The weight room and the offseason plans. The logistics of roster building at a time of year when the league gathers here to evaluate possibilities as much as prospects. Monken suggested that part of the blueprint comes from Baltimore, where the years were productive but, in the end, incomplete. The Ravens entered last season with Super Bowl aspirations and floundered out of the gate, losing five of their first six games before finishing 8-9 and missing the playoffs. Along the way, Jackson missed four games because of injuries and often appeared less than sharp even when available. Some players voiced frustration with what they viewed as a lack of creativity in the offensive design, the defense struggled to protect late leads, and there was a clear disconnect, most notably between Jackson and the coaching staff. Related Articles Ravens OC Declan Doyle is a future head coach. Just ask Sean Payton. 5 things we learned from Ravens’ DeCosta, Minter at NFL scouting combine Ravens coach Jesse Minter settles into job, builds trust with Lamar Jackson NFL exec on reversal of Ravens’ Isaiah Likely TD: ‘That was interesting’ Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey and Likely? DeCosta explains. “Unfortunately, we didn’t play winning football enough,” Monken said, citing injuries, turnovers that arrived at inconvenient moments and elements he believes he could have handled better as a coach. What he took away from that season, he said, was a renewed appreciation for the margins — the small, cumulative details that tend to decide games in a league built on narrow outcomes. “There’s certain things from a day-to-day basis — from coaching accountability, from playing accountability — that when you’re trying to find those margins that allow you to win those close games that we did have, we didn’t find a way to win those,” he said. “In the years previous, we did.” Those margins now belong to Cleveland, a division rival in the AFC North with a roster with more questions than answers. The offense finished near the bottom of the league last season and remains unsettled at quarterback, with Deshaun Watson and polarizing second-year player Shedeur Sanders expected to compete for the job. Monken said he intends to bring elements of the Ravens’ offensive system with him, though not without modification. “Well, the Ravens are in our division, so they’ve got all our stuff. We’re gonna have to change some of it for God’s sake,” he said. “We can’t keep the same calls. “But you are who you are. You may flip some terminology … but what you believe in, how you attack people, how you go about your daily routine, your coaching staff, it’s gotta stay the same. That’s why you got the job. You completely flip, then you’re screwed.” He also spoke warmly about his former boss in Baltimore, John Harbaugh, who was fired after 18 seasons with the Ravens and is now the coach of the New York Giants. Browns coach Todd Monken speaks to the media at the NFL scouting combine on Wednesday in Indianapolis. (Brian Wacker/Staff) Asked what distinguishes Harbaugh, Monken paused before settling on a word that coaches rarely use lightly. “He’s got a gift for confronting anything that gets in the way of winning football without being confrontational,” Monken said. “He just does. It’s unique. He doesn’t let it linger. He’ll come right down the hall and say this isn’t good enough, what can we do to change it and where are we at? “The other thing is, the offseason’s no joke; John — it’s football every day, man. Every year I was with the Ravens, it was offense 2.0, offense 3.0. What are we going to do to improve?” In Cleveland, that question will now follow Monken everywhere — through meeting rooms, onto practice fields and into future Sundays. The answers will eventually surface on the scoreboard, including twice a year against Baltimore, and across the rest of a long, unsentimental calendar. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

Lions coach Dan Campbell made an upward motion with his hand trying articulate the career trajectory for Declan Doyle. Broncos coach Sean Payton flat out called him a future NFL head coach. Doyle is “seasoned beyond his years,” Bears coach Ben Johnson hymned. This week in Indianapolis, host site for the NFL scouting combine, praise for the newly formed Ravens coaching staff felt interminable. Sure, no coach is going to use that platform to degrade another. But the volume of praise, particularly for first-year coach Jesse Minter and Doyle, his first-time play-calling offensive coordinator, speaks to the league-wide respect toward Baltimore’s staff reset. “I expect Jesse to do great things,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said, coming off his first Super Bowl win. “I expect them to be right there and they’re gonna be a team that we have to contend with.” Times are changing for the Ravens. Minter even bestowed verbiage: This is a “new age,” he said, of what it means to “Play like a Raven” – a longstanding organizational mantra. His predecessor took no issue with that. “It should evolve,” said John Harbaugh, the former Ravens coach now heading the New York Giants. “He was his own man in Baltimore when he was young,” Harbaugh said of Minter. “Now he gets the opportunity to be a head coach in a great place. So, I have nothing but love and respect for him. “I think he’s ready.” Last time Minter coached in Baltimore, from 2017 to 2020, he was a defensive assistant learning under Don “Wink” Martindale and Macdonald. In some ways, general manager Eric DeCosta still saw him as that wide-eyed youngster. Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz assured DeCosta during this coaching carousel about Minter’s evolution as a play-caller and leader. DeCosta was sold. He hired him for what is not only an NFL head coaching gig, but to lead the first complete coaching turnover since the team’s inaugural season and ready them for a roster smack in the middle of a championship window. “I think if Jesse is just himself, he’ll be fine,” Hortiz said. “He’ll be able to fill the shoes, and he’ll fill them in his own way.” By Feb. 12, Minter solidified his first NFL staff. He called on Anthony Weaver, a proven commodity who interviewed for several head coaching jobs and has ties to Baltimore, to be defensive coordinator. Minter promoted Anthony Levine Sr., a former Ravens player and assistant coach, to oversee special teams. Doyle is the only coach of the team-leading quartet without previous ties to the organization. He’s the new guy in the room, coming from an offensive coordinator role in Chicago where he ceded play-calling duties to Johnson. There, he helped former No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams throw for 4,000-plus yards leading the Bears to a No. 2 seed in the playoffs. Minter said folks around the league gushed over the 29-year-old. They affirmed his inclination throughout the interview process. And at the combine this week, coaches continued to rave. “Declan is a phenomenal football coach,” Johnson said. “If you didn’t know that he was 29 years old, you wouldn’t blink an eye. … I’m disappointed that we lost him as quickly as we did. I was hoping that we’d be able to hold onto him for longer.” Campbell worked with Doyle in New Orleans from 2019 to 2020. “Somebody made a comment about how young he seems,” Campbell said this week. Doyle was much younger back then but, according to Campbell, “you would never know it. The questions that he asked, the way that he talked, the information that he gave the players or ideas he had. He was very mature. He had a lot of conviction. Man, understands football, asks the right questions, is always trying to solve problems and when he coaches, you see it. He comes alive.” Related Articles Todd Monken, still in awe as Browns’ new coach, reflects on Ravens tenure 5 things we learned from Ravens’ DeCosta, Minter at NFL scouting combine Ravens coach Jesse Minter settles into job, builds trust with Lamar Jackson NFL exec on reversal of Ravens’ Isaiah Likely TD: ‘That was interesting’ Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey and Likely? DeCosta explains. Chief among the responsibilities for Doyle’s new gig is connecting with two-time Most Valuable Player and similarly aged quarterback Lamar Jackson. Doyle said they’ve spoken periodically and that those conversations have all been productive. It’s up to him to maximize the potential of this Ravens offense. Word around Indianapolis is maybe that won’t be a long-term gig. Payton was asked if Doyle has head coaching potential. “Absolutely,” he said, “and that will be quicker than Baltimore wants.” “Declan was extremely detailed,” Payton added. “It’s hard to get to this position. There’s a journey everyone has, and so there are no shortcuts. He took the journey the right way. … We were fortunate to get him here [in Denver]. Then man, in the blink of an eye, we lost him. Now Chicago lost him. It’s Baltimore’s benefit.” At least, that’s what everyone in Indianapolis this week seems to think. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Sam appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, right, was praised by peers at the NFL scouting combine. The young coach will call offensive plays for the first time in 2026. (Brian Krista/Staff) View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — The Ravens’ offseason priorities are coming into focus. Quarterback Lamar Jackson’s contract carries the second-largest salary cap hit in the NFL. Meanwhile, Baltimore’s pass rush needs reinforcements, the offensive line’s anchor awaits a historic deal and a new coaching staff is hard at work with the front office to shape the roster. At the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday, general manager Eric DeCosta and first-year coach Jesse Minter provided insight into how Baltimore plans to address each of those challenges, offering clarity on some of the organization’s most pressing decisions while also reinforcing the philosophy that will guide the franchise forward. Here are five things we learned: Lamar Jackson’s contract remains central to Baltimore’s roster flexibility As the Ravens enter the thick of the offseason, two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson’s contract remains one of the most important financial variables shaping their ability to build the roster around him. Jackson is projected to carry a whopping $74.5 million salary cap hit in 2026, representing the second-highest cap hit behind Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. During a rare news conference last month, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti clamored that he wants Jackson to remain his quarterback and noted how he didn’t want the Ravens to head into free agency with Jackson’s contract negotiations still pending. “We want another window, and Lamar knows that,” Bisciotti said last month. “I think that he’s amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal … the urgency of that matters to me because we’ve got free agents, and I don’t want to go into free agency with that hanging over our head. I made that clear to Lamar, and I think he was very appreciative of my stance, and hopefully willing to work with Eric and not get this thing dragged out into April like it was the last time. It was very hard for him to build a roster when that thing is not settled.” The NFL’s tampering period begins March 9 — less than two weeks away — and the Ravens have yet to reach a new deal with Jackson. So, where do things stand? “Well, as you guys know, Lamar [Jackson] and I have an agreement. We handle business kind of in-house, internally,” DeCosta said Tuesday. “That worked well for us the last time, and we will continue to have that policy moving forward.” While DeCosta remained mostly mum, he did confirm he’s been in contact with Jackson throughout the offseason. “I have spoken to Lamar about a lot of different things over the last month,” he said. “He’s been very engaged.” Despite Bisciotti’s sentiment, DeCosta downplayed the notion that Jackson’s cap number would prevent the Ravens from making meaningful roster moves. Jackson’s slated cap hit of $74.5 million represents nearly a quarter of the team’s cap at 24.3%. A potential restructure or extension would reduce Jackson’s immediate cap hit while reinforcing the long-term partnership between the franchise and its 29-year-old quarterback, an ever-important relationship that remains foundational to Baltimore’s ambitions in chasing its third Super Bowl title. “We never have as much cap room as we’d like to have,” DeCosta said. “But we feel like we can start at the beginning of the new league year and conduct business.” Buckle up. That’s quite the change in tone from Bisciotti’s earlier public challenge to Jackson. The Ravens are working to secure Tyler Linderbaum long term DeCosta might prefer to keep his conversations with Jackson private, but he had no issues announcing that the Ravens have presented center Tyler Linderbaum with a “market-setting offer,” signaling their commitment to retaining one of the league’s premier interior offensive linemen. “Tyler is a guy that I have tremendous respect for,” DeCosta said. “We’ve made him a market-setting offer, and hopefully we can get something done with him between now and the start of the new league year.” Related Articles Ravens coach Jesse Minter settles into job, builds trust with Lamar Jackson NFL exec on reversal of Ravens’ Isaiah Likely TD: ‘That was interesting’ Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey and Likely? DeCosta explains. With ‘market-setting’ extension offer from Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum faces big decision Ravens still in limbo with Nnamdi Madubuike, GM Eric DeCosta says Minter further emphasized Linderbaum’s importance to the offense’s structure and future. “I think he’s one of the best interior linemen in the league,” Minter said. “He’s a major piece of our offense. He’s somebody we’d love to have back.” So while Jackson’s pending contract status shapes the Ravens’ financial outlook, the team is also prioritizing another important offensive player. It sure sounds like the ball is now in Linderbaum’s court. DeCosta also revealed that the Ravens aren’t planning to use the franchise or transition tag on Linderbaum. Linderbaum, a 2022 first-round draft pick out of Iowa, is one of 19 pending free agents. Three league sources told The Baltimore Sun at the NFL scouting combine that Linderbaum has received serious interest ahead of free agency. Kansas City Chiefs All-Pro Creed Humphrey is the NFL’s highest-paid center with an average annual salary of $18 million; Humphrey signed a four-year, $72 million extension in August 2024. Linderbaum’s new offer, according to DeCosta, would exceed those figures. Currently, Philadelphia Eagles center Cam Jurgens ($17 million average annual value) and Humphrey are the only two players at the position who make more than $15 million per year. Retaining Linderbaum would preserve important continuity under first-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, who, like Linderbaum, also attended Iowa, where he started his coaching career as a student assistant in 2016. Linderbaum is just the third offensive lineman in Ravens history with three Pro Bowl selections, joining Jonathan Ogden (11 Pro Bowls) and Marshal Yanda (nine). “I think we’ve always been a team that has valued the importance of ‘the trenches’ and being up front,” DeCosta said. “[That is] just one of the reasons why we want to bring Tyler [Linderbaum] back, if we can.” Improving the pass rush is one of Baltimore’s top offseason priorities Few weaknesses were more evident during Baltimore’s forgettable 2025 season than its inconsistent pass rush. The Ravens finished with the third-fewest sacks (30) in the league and had just four games in which they registered more than two sacks. DeCosta acknowledged the issue head-on and made clear that the Ravens intend to address it through several avenues. “We certainly know that we have to augment the pass rush and improve there,” DeCosta said. “When we look at the best defenses, we see a ferocious pass rush, and that was lacking this year for different reasons.” One pointed reason was that the Ravens never recovered after losing top defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike to a season-ending neck injury in Week 2. Madubuike’s future playing status remains in limbo and, ultimately, the team must continue planning its future with or without him. Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, shown in 2024, missed most of the 2025 season with a neck injury. The defensive line took a step backward in his absence. (Kim Hairston/Staff) Looking ahead, the Ravens have 11 draft picks, giving the front office plenty of flexibility to reinforce the defensive front. This year’s draft class is widely considered to be deep in pass rush talent, and Minter, a known defensive mind, is bound to have an important voice as the team structures its personnel plans. “We like this draft class in terms of pass rush, edge ability and the ability to get up the field and impact the passing game,” DeCosta said. “I feel certain that we’ll have a chance to add a couple draft picks this year who can help us on third downs.” Said Minter: “It’s an O-line [and] D-line driven league. Just look at the Super Bowl winners of the last couple of years, I think that’s really where you start. How have these teams won that final game? Two years ago, it was the Eagles’ O-line, D-line driven [year]. This year, Seattle, the same deal. So I think that’s an area that you’re always looking to get better at. There are some good pieces there, so it’ll be about coaching them up, developing them more, and then adding some pieces to help us get to that level. “I think it’s always a position that you’re looking for more, and so I know Eric and the guys will do a great job attacking free agency and the draft in building a team that in September that we feel has the ability to rush the passer.” The Ravens’ draft process reflects discipline, flexibility and long-term thinking Baltimore’s reputation as one of the NFL’s most disciplined organizations remains rooted in supportive ownership and its front office’s ability to balance long-term planning with immediate roster needs. And despite the team’s postseason regression over the last two years, the Ravens still boast two Lombardi trophies, while 12 NFL teams are still stuck in Super Bowl purgatory without a title. DeCosta, who over his tenure has repeatedly labeled the Ravens as a “draft and develop” team, offered a rare glimpse at the organization’s prospect evaluation process that largely highlights prioritizing the best player available. “There’s a nuance there, and it’s probably something that I could talk about for 25 hours. I try to line the board up, of course, according to the best available player,” DeCosta said. “We’re going to rank every single player using analysis, analytics, scouts, interviews and things like that. And then we’re going to kind of fold in the idea of needs. “So, you’re going to go through every single player, you’re going to spend probably a half hour in every meeting on the top 200 players in the draft, and you’re going to really come up with a sequence list that you’re going to use to select from. And then, in the first two to three rounds, you’re really going to focus on if this [is] the best player at this pick with the idea of need [in mind]. As you get into the later rounds of the draft, depending on the players that you’ve already selected, that may change your sequence, and that may change what you do.” In today’s world of advanced analytics, the Ravens prefer to blend traditional scouting with analytics, internal models and extensive evaluation meetings to ultimately create their final draft board. “We take the human element, the scout sequence, and then we take the model — the algorithm that we use — and essentially combine the two to get the best output,” DeCosta said. The approach, originally influenced by former general manager Ozzie Newsome and now DeCosta, reflects the Ravens’ longstanding philosophy of remaining disciplined to avoid reaching and rather trust the entire evaluation process. Minter’s defensive philosophy prioritizes versatility in the secondary In past years, DeCosta has compared defensive backs with race cars. And if there’s one position group that’s helped reveal Minter’s defensive vision, it’s the secondary. The Ravens have one of the NFL’s most versatile defensive players in safety Kyle Hamilton, whom DeCosta called a “unicorn” and “force multiplier.” Behind Hamilton, though, there’s plenty of room for improvement after the Ravens allowed the second-most passing yards (4,215) in the league behind only the Dallas Cowboys. Expect Minter to play a significant role in addressing this issue and getting the Ravens back to their standard. More race cars, anyone? Across the 2025 season, Nate Wiggins (1,029 defensive snaps) and Marlon Humphrey (880) handled a majority of the reps at outside cornerback. Essentially, whenever they weren’t sidelined because of injury, the combination of Wiggins and Humphrey often manned the field together. Chidobe Awuizie (557) was the only other defensive back who logged more than 200 snaps. Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins intercepts a pass against the Bears in 2025. Wiggins was inconsistent this past season, but he's expected to play a key role in Baltimore's secondary in 2026. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) In turn, Wiggins and Humphrey both ranked among the league’s bottom dwellers in yards allowed and passer rating allowed. According to Pro Football Focus, Humphrey surrendered a career-high and NFL-worst 916 yards. He had four interceptions and two forced fumbles. With Minter in charge, there could be noticeable changes coming with player usage. Minter’s longstanding philosophy, dating to his early days as a college defensive coordinator, revolves around maximizing his personnel. The Chargers last season regularly rotated four cornerbacks between Tarheeb Still, Cam Hart, Donte Jackson and Benjamin St-Juste. In total, the Chargers had nine defensive backs log more than 275 defensive snaps. Los Angeles finished fifth in both total defense and passing defense. Meanwhile, the 31st-ranked Ravens had just five defensive backs exceed that many snaps. “I think for how we play scheme-wise, [defensive backs] are important, and they can be highlighted, and they can be moved around to impact the game,” Minter said. “When you do a variety of coverages and different pressures, you can move that guy where you want to move them. I think those types of players — they’re weapons. They’re not necessarily a nickel or a safety or a linebacker or a corner. They’re kind of a weapon. “When they have that ability to impact the game, the more you can put them in position to do that, the better off [you are]. When you’re evaluating those guys, they come in all different forms.” Regulating playing time, especially with known starters and veterans, can be a challenge at the pro level. The process involves controlling egos and instilling a game plan that requires belief across the locker room and specific position groups. Overall, Minter’s habits reflect a defensive approach built on flexibility, disguise and matchup adaptability. To help emphasize his philosophy, Minter hired former Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens, who will serve as the team’s secondary coach and pass game coordinator. “[Mickens] has done an unbelievable job at Notre Dame,” Minter said. “They’ve probably had the last four or five years, the most consistent secondary rankings in the college level. He’s just gotten better and better. He’s a really good communicator. He’s a really good evaluator, and he’s a technician. His mindset from playing corner at a really high level will translate well to our guys to be really competitive, have that down-after-down mentality, the next-play mentality that we’re looking for.” Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. Josh appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — New Ravens coach Jesse Minter’s preferred choice of attire is more cape than the actual hoodie it is. After taking questions from reporters for 15 minutes at the NFL scouting combine Tuesday afternoon, he was promptly whisked through a car wash of interviews with various national media outlets, including ESPN, flying from one microphone and television camera to another. A few hours later he returned, backpacks in tow, to meet with local reporters for another dozen minutes. It has been, by his own admission, something of a whirlwind since he was hired as only the fourth head coach in the organization’s 31-year history, following the dismissal of John Harbaugh after a season that left owner Steve Bisciotti restless and underwhelmed. What has been the biggest adjustment for the 42-year-old former defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers, now a first-time head coach? “You want to be in on everything and you want to try to impact every little thing,” Minter said. “You have to quickly figure out that’s not always possible. “You’ve got to really be where your feet are for that particular hour of the day and make the most of it.” The hours arrive quickly. One might be spent in a defensive meeting, the next with the offense or special teams. There are player evaluations, conversations about roster construction with general manager Eric DeCosta and vice president of football administration Nick Matteo, and the quieter but no less important work of forming relationships throughout the building. These tasks demand tempo and touch. The offseason, paradoxically, can make that work harder. Players are scattered across the country. Sometimes they pass through the team facility in Owings Mills; other times the contact is through text messages and Zoom calls. Chief among those conversations, Minter said, have been what he described as a “good amount” with two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and quarterback Lamar Jackson. DeCosta noted Tuesday that Jackson was involved in the hiring process that brought Minter to Baltimore, and he has had conversations with him about a potential contract extension. Unsurprisingly, Minter did not offer many details about their discussions. That has long been Jackson’s preference, whether the topic is negotiations or matters between quarterback and coach. Minter understands that rhythm. “Relationships are built over time,” Minter said. “They’re built through communication, they’re built through being honest, they’re built through being open.” He added that he and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, who at 29 is two months younger than Jackson, have tried to stay in regular contact without becoming overbearing. “He’s been a Raven for a long time,” Minter said of Jackson. “It’s new for us. It’s not new for him.” Related Articles NFL exec on reversal of Ravens’ Isaiah Likely TD: ‘That was interesting’ Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey and Likely? DeCosta explains. With ‘market-setting’ extension offer from Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum faces big decision Ravens still in limbo with Nnamdi Madubuike, GM Eric DeCosta says Ravens GM Eric DeCosta ‘confident’ he can get deal done with Lamar Jackson Still, the conversations have been productive, touching on football and plenty else. Minter said that they have reached a point in which “we could ask each other anything.” There is much to be done. “Culture takes time, and creating standards of how we operate as players come back in will take some time,” Minter said, noting that the details of that work often surface most clearly on Sundays. For Minter, who intends to call the defense while serving as head coach — much as Mike Macdonald did for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks — one of the immediate questions is how to generate more pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The Ravens’ 30 sacks last season tied for 30th in the league, and their pass-rush win rate of 30% ranked 28th, according to ESPN analytics. “Sometimes you just end up going down a road with the group that you have,” he said of the defense. “We’ll try to wipe the slate clean for those guys and maybe how we look at pass rush and what we allow them to do with some freedom we might try to give them, while at the same time making sure everybody understands what that freedom means.” His early impression of the roster he has inherited is that the Ravens are a “capable” team — one that, at moments last season, looked as formidable as anyone in the league. As an admitted optimist, that is what lingered with him. But so did the inconsistency, and the injuries. There is, again, work to do. The Ravens blew three fourth-quarter leads in 2025, including two in the final three games, finishing 8-9 to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2021. Jackson missed four games because of injuries, and at one point Baltimore was forced to start five rookies amid a rash of ailments, including to standout defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who suffered a season-ending neck injury in Week 2. Ravens defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike played just two games in 2025, and his health status for 2026 is uncertain. Baltimore's defense plays its best with Madubuike available along the interior. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) Neither DeCosta nor Minter offered an update on Madubuike’s status Tuesday, choosing again to keep the matter private. Minter said he has spoken with him and that the lineman has been around the facility in recent weeks. “I think that’ll be up to him when the time’s right,” Minter said. “I know he’s in great spirits.” The same could be said for Minter himself. His first combine as a head coach will wind down later this week. Then comes free agency, the draft and, before long, offseason workouts. For now, he moves from room to room, settling into a job that tends to gather speed before it ever slows. He is on his way. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

Just over two weeks after the NFL season came to a close, the league is ready to admit its mistakes. There were five instant replay reviews that officials got wrong in real time, NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told Mark Maske, formerly of The Washington Post. Tight end Isaiah Likely’s would-be game-winning touchdown catch against Pittsburgh in Week 14 was not one of them, but it did get the league’s attention. Vincent told Maske on Tuesday that it was one of a few plays league officials discussed at length. Despite ire from fans and disagreement from players, the NFL’s stance is that they could not confidently say that replay officials got it wrong. “There was two plays in particular,” Vincent said. “There was the Likely play … Ravens-Steelers in the end zone. And then you had the one — there was a Jets play. But it was the Likely play that you go, ‘That was interesting because of the third step and they were talking about the ball extended out.’ So it was: What constitutes that third act?” There were just under three minutes left in that early December game. Jackson found Likely in the back of the end zone. The 25-year-old held the ball out in front of him and took two steps before Steelers defensive back Joey Porter Jr. jarred it loose. It was ruled a touchdown on the field and overturned after replay review. NFL vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth said in the pool report that Likely obtained control and had both feet in bounds. However, he did not make an “act common to the game” afterward, which would have been planting a third step. After having a night to sleep on it, former Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that the league’s definition of a catch is “clear as mud.” Vincent did not say conclusively that the replay review was wrong or that the on-field call should have stood. Rather, the league felt that it warranted discussion about the merit of a catch but ultimately stuck by the final call. To play the what-if game: If that touchdown had counted, it’s more likely that the Ravens would have won, which would have put them in sole possession of first place in the AFC North with four regular-season games remaining. Baltimore lost the regular-season finale at Pittsburgh after Tyler Loop missed a game-winning field goal attempt in the final seconds, giving the Steelers the division title. Vincent said that there were 171 regular-season plays reviewed by the replay booth. The overwhelming majority, he said, the NFL feels confident that officials got right. There was another play from earlier in that same Ravens-Steelers game that was part of the final five in which the NFL would like a do-over. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a pass that was batted at the line of scrimmage back toward his hands. As he grabbed the ball, so did rookie linebacker Teddye Buchanan. The two fought for possession. Officials on the field ruled it an interception. After replay review, they gave Pittsburgh the upper hand, stating that Rodgers had possession and his knee was down. The NFL admitted its fault on that play, a league spokesperson confirmed to Pro Football Talk, which was a significant momentum swing for the Steelers. Related Articles Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey or Likely? DeCosta explains. With ‘market-setting’ extension offer from Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum faces big decision Ravens still in limbo with Nnamdi Madubuike, GM Eric DeCosta says Ravens GM Eric DeCosta ‘confident’ he can get deal done with Lamar Jackson Ravens live updates: Coverage from 2026 NFL scouting combine A day after that game, the NFL league office called Harbaugh to lament another officiating mistake. In the second quarter, Ravens defensive tackle Travis Jones was flagged for unnecessary roughness. Jones charged the gap beside Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz on a field goal attempt. Officials deemed it unnecessary against a defenseless player. NFL rules analyst and club communications liaison Walt Anderson and senior vice president of officiating administration Perry Fewell called to tell Harbaugh “it should not have been called.” The play resulted in a Steelers first down and they scored a touchdown the next play, taking a 17-3 lead rather than a 13-3 lead in a game Pittsburgh eventually won 27-22. “So technically we won?” Lamar Jackson asked jokingly on X on Tuesday. “10-7 1st offseason win ever.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Sam appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

Marlon Humphrey revealed on his podcast last month that general manager Eric DeCosta gave him a percentage chance he’d be on the team in 2026. Although Humphrey didn’t reveal that number, talking around it with a playful confidence, the veteran cornerback said he likes his chances of playing another year in Baltimore. Fast forward to the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis this week. The Ravens have an entirely new staff, led by first-year, defensive-minded coach Jesse Minter, and are in a full sprint to sort out their championship-caliber roster. And thus, DeCosta affirmed his belief in keeping Humphrey around. “I do expect him to be on the team,” DeCosta said. “I love Marlon.” At times this season, the loudest parts of the fan base seemed to disagree. The two-time All-Pro regressed in 2025, dealing with injuries to his calf and finger that independently inhibited his play. Humphrey registered one of his team-high four interceptions with a heavily wrapped hand. His step back from “All-Pro Marlo,” ranked by Pro Football Focus as a top-10 cornerback in 2024 to outside the top-100 in 2025, was an indictment of his struggles in pass coverage. Most memorably, there was the Patriots’ fourth-quarter comeback stamped by a Kyle Williams 37-yard touchdown in which he beat Humphrey. There was a similar blunder against the Steelers when Adam Thielen scored a game-tying touchdown in the second half. Despite leading the Ravens in interceptions each of the past two seasons, his propensity for allowing explosive plays raises the question of whether this “new age” Baltimore defense sees the longstanding veteran as a vital piece. Humphrey turns 30 this offseason. He’s set to have a $26.3 million salary cap hit, according to OverTheCap.com, but would save the Ravens $19.3 million should they opt for a post-June 1 release. “There could be a lot of change,” Humphrey said after the loss in Pittsburgh.” Obviously, this is a business. I can really only speak for myself; I just wait and see if I’m part of the plans going forward or if I’m not.” DeCosta said he’d like Humphrey to be a part of those plans. He said the same for tight end Isaiah Likely, who seems less likely to be in Baltimore next season. But the door isn’t shut. Asked if there’s a possibility of bringing Likely back, DeCosta said, “definitely.” The 25-year-old said recently that Baltimore “feels like home” but that he wants to “blossom,” which would be tough to do playing behind veteran Mark Andrews, who signed a contract extension in December. DeCosta said he had contract talks with both tight ends before striking a deal with Andrews. Related Articles With ‘market-setting’ extension offer from Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum faces big decision Ravens still in limbo with Nnamdi Madubuike, GM Eric DeCosta says Ravens GM Eric DeCosta ‘confident’ he can get deal done with Lamar Jackson Ravens live updates: Coverage from 2026 NFL scouting combine 5 biggest questions facing Ravens as NFL scouting combine kicks off Like Humphrey, Likely’s production dipped after a breakout year in 2024. He caught 27 passes for 307 yards, one touchdown and suffered through a nightmarish stretch when he fumbled at the goal line then had his go-ahead touchdown wiped away because of a controversial call against the Steelers. His season ended on a high note with a tremendous fourth-down catch that set up Tyler Loop’s famous missed kick. According to Spotrac, Likely’s projected market value is set just below $8.9 million. Another team could feasibly make him a primary target in the offense considering he’s been a reliable target for Lamar Jackson — when healthy. Jackson even posted on social media, replying to a Bleacher Report fill-in-the-blank, calling for Likely to stay in Baltimore. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Sam appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — The ball is in Tyler Linderbaum’s hands. The only question now is whether he’ll still be snapping it in a Ravens uniform next season. General manager Eric DeCosta said Tuesday that Baltimore has offered the 25-year-old center what he described as a “market-setting” contract extension as free agency approaches in two weeks. Linderbaum is scheduled to reach the open market when the league’s new year begins March 11. Baltimore’s preference, of course, is to keep him. “He’s proven to be the best center in the league,” DeCosta said at the NFL scouting combine. “Hopefully we can get something done with him between now and the start of the new league year.” Talks, DeCosta added, have been ongoing since the season ended. Linderbaum’s agent, Neil Cornrich, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Re-signing Linderbaum would likely require a commitment of roughly $20 million per year. The current benchmark at the position belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey, who signed a four-year, $72 million extension last August worth $18 million annually. The expectation is that Linderbaum’s deal would surpass that figure. For Baltimore, the calculus is financial and structural. Linderbaum has become the fulcrum of an offensive line that showed cracks last season — particularly at guard — as quarterback Lamar Jackson was sacked 36 times in 12 games, the highest sack rate of his eight-year career. “We’ve always been a team that has valued the importance of the trenches,” DeCosta said, noting that the organization is unlikely to use either the franchise or transition tag on Linderbaum. That option is mostly impractical anyway. The projected franchise tag for offensive linemen is roughly $28 million, a steep figure for a team with roughly $13 million in effective salary-cap space for the time being until it works out an extension for quarterback Lamar Jackson or makes other cap-clearing moves. The Ravens also declined Linderbaum’s fifth-year option last offseason, which would have been worth $23.4 million. Teams can use the tag as a bridge and continue negotiating until mid-July, but Baltimore does not appear inclined to go that route. Keeping Linderbaum would offer stability for a line entering a new era under coach Jesse Minter. Even in a season that was not quite as dominant as his previous ones — he allowed two sacks and 26 pressures, per Pro Football Focus — Linderbaum still nabbed a third consecutive Pro Bowl nod. He anchored a unit that powered the league’s second-best rushing attack, producing 2,662 yards and a league-leading 5.9 yards per carry. In franchise history, only two other offensive linemen — Hall of Fame tackle Jonathan Ogden and guard Marshal Yanda — have made at least three Pro Bowls. “I think he’s one of the best interior linemen in the league,” Minter said of Linderbaum. “I think he’s a major piece of our offense. I think he fits really well into the direction our offense is headed; so [he’s] a guy that we’d love to have back.” One potential direction could include even more outside zone running plays, something that back Derrick Henry has excelled in over his career and something new offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford featured heavily with the Atlanta Falcons and their back Bijan Robinson. Related Articles Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey or Likely? DeCosta explains. Ravens still in limbo with Nnamdi Madubuike, GM Eric DeCosta says Ravens GM Eric DeCosta ‘confident’ he can get deal done with Lamar Jackson Ravens live updates: Coverage from 2026 NFL scouting combine 5 biggest questions facing Ravens as NFL scouting combine kicks off “Everything is personnel driven, what-the-guys-do-well driven,” Minter said. “Dwayne is one of the best O-line coaches in the league. I was super excited to get him on the staff, and so I think the coaches’ job on both sides of the ball is to see what we have, see what we could possibly be best at, see what fits into our style of play with our guys.” Few players shape that equation more than the one standing over the ball. Linderbaum said last month that he would “absolutely” like to be back. He also will be one of the top league’s free agents should he want to test the waters. It’s not dissimilar to the position the Ravens were in with left tackle Ronnie Stanley last offseason. Just before free agency, the two sides came to an agreement on an extension, keeping him off the market. Now, the next two weeks will determine whether Linderbaum follows suit. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta did not provide clarity Tuesday on defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike’s status, instead signaling the team remains in a holding pattern as the veteran defensive tackle recovers from a season-ending neck injury. “There’s a lot of unknown when you build a team,” DeCosta said at the NFL scouting combine. “I learned from [former general manager] Ozzie [Newsome], sometimes the best thing to do is wait for more information, and that’s what we continue to do.” Madubuike, a two-time Pro Bowl selection and one of the league’s highest-paid defensive tackles, suffered his neck injury in a Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns. Baltimore’s pass rush suffered greatly and never fully rebounded from Madubuike’s absence, finishing with just 30 sacks, third-fewest in the NFL, while ranking 28th in pass rush win rate at 30%. “It was tough to see Nnamdi go down last year,” DeCosta said. “[His injury] left us a little vulnerable.” Madubuike’s future has remained a subject of speculation, especially after he posted “Good news” last month on X. Throughout the 2025 season and into the offseason, team officials have declined to elaborate on his recovery timeline and future playing status. The Ravens signed Madubuike to a four-year, $98 million contract with $75.5 million guaranteed in March 2024, cementing his role as a foundational piece across the middle of the defensive line. During his two Pro Bowl seasons in 2023 and 2024, Madubuike compiled 19 1/2 sacks and 50 quarterback hits. Over 78 career games, he has 203 tackles, 30 sacks and 69 quarterback hits. DeCosta indicated the lingering uncertainty surrounding Madubuike, 28, will not alter Baltimore’s offseason approach. The Ravens, under new coach Jesse Minter, are in attendance at this week’s scouting combine to evaluate top draft-eligible players. Baltimore currently possesses 11 picks, including the No. 14 selection, in April’s NFL draft. “[Madubuike’s situation] doesn’t affect me very much,” DeCosta said. “If we have a chance to draft a great defensive tackle, we will. It’s one of the most important positions in football. We’ve always been a team that has valued the importance of the trenches. We should have a good opportunity to add players [in the draft].” Madubuike carries a cap hit of $30.975 million in 2026 with a guaranteed base salary of $22 million. Said DeCosta: “Salary cap-wise, [Madubuike] doesn’t have any major impact on us at this time.” First-year coach Jesse Minter acknowledged Madubuike remains in “great spirits,” and also noted that he met with the defensive player at the team’s facility in Owings Mills last week. “I’ll keep those conversations private,” Minter said. “I think that will be up to him when the time is right.” Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. Josh appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. Related Articles Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey or Likely? DeCosta explains. With ‘market-setting’ extension offer from Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum faces big decision Ravens GM Eric DeCosta ‘confident’ he can get deal done with Lamar Jackson Ravens live updates: Coverage from 2026 NFL scouting combine 5 biggest questions facing Ravens as NFL scouting combine kicks off View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta said Tuesday that he is “confident” that the team will be able to work out a contract extension with two-time NFL Most Valuable Player and quarterback Lamar Jackson. Jackson, 29, has two years remaining on his current deal but is due to carry a prohibitive $74.5 million salary cap hit each of the next two seasons when the new league year opens March 11. An extension or adding void years to his current contract would lessen that hit significantly for Baltimore, which is also trying to re-sign center and impending free agent Tyler Linderbaum to a long-term, “market-setting” contract that it has offered to the three-time Pro Bowl selection. DeCosta also said that he has spoken with the often elusive Jackson on multiple occasions in recent weeks, though he declined to provide specifics of their talks. “Lamar and I have an agreement,” he said from the NFL scouting combine. “We handle business kind of in-house, internally. That worked well for us the last time, and we will continue to have that policy moving forward.” The last time the Ravens and Jackson, who does not have an agent, were in negotiations, talks dragged on for two years and included a trade request from the star before the two sides reached agreement on a five-year, $260 million contract hours ahead of the start of the 2023 NFL draft. That deal, at the time, made Jackson the highest-paid player in the sport. It is expected that he will get top money again this time around. A new deal would also free up around $30 million in cap space and keep Jackson in Baltimore for at least another few years. Though the clock is ticking on the start of the new league year, DeCosta also said that he does not expect the looming deadline to impede the organization’s ability to make other moves. “We never have as much cap room as we like to have,” he said. “But we feel like we can start at the beginning of the new league year to conduct business.” At the top of the list, of course, is signing Jackson to an extension, something that owner Steve Bisciotti said last month is a priority. “We want another window, and Lamar knows that,” Bisciotti said. “I think that he’s amenable to doing something that mirrors the last deal he did, although the annual number will be a little higher. But I’m hoping that it’s plug a new number in the same contract he signed last year and move on.” If the two sides can’t come to an agreement, the team can restructure Jackson’s current contract. Though that is not the preferred route, converting much of his $51.2 million salary into a signing bonus would free up necessary space, though that would increase his cap hit for 2027. Currently, Baltimore has about $13 million in effective cap space. Jackson is also coming off the worst season of his career and missed four games because of injuries. Related Articles Will the Ravens bring back Humphrey or Likely? DeCosta explains. With ‘market-setting’ extension offer from Ravens, Tyler Linderbaum faces big decision Ravens still in limbo with Nnamdi Madubuike, GM Eric DeCosta says Ravens live updates: Coverage from 2026 NFL scouting combine 5 biggest questions facing Ravens as NFL scouting combine kicks off The disappointing 8-9 season led to coach John Harbaugh being fired after 18 seasons and Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator and former Baltimore assistant Jesse Minter being hired. Jackson also spent more than an hour on a video call with new offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, and DeCosta said that he has spoken with the quarterback about “a lot of different things” of late. “He’s been very engaged,” DeCosta said. “He was a big value to us in the coaching search.” Minter added that he and Jackson have been in contact since being hired, though he did not elaborate. “I think Lamar and I’s relationship, I’ll probably try to keep pretty private, but it is always ongoing and always trying to be in communication,” he said. “Like I said at the very beginning, it takes time to build the trust and the communication and the openness that you really want to create with all the players. So, I am always working towards that, but I love to see him put in the work.” Asked if he also prefers that Jackson be at voluntary organized team activities later this offseason after Doyle said recently that championship expectations essentially means championship attendance for the voluntary practices, DeCosta said that he isn’t concerned. “I think he knows what it takes to get ready for the grind of the NFL season,” he said. “He’s proven he can do it at a very, very high level.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

The NFL offseason is heating up. Top decision-makers are in Indianapolis this week for the annual NFL scouting combine to evaluate the best prospects available in April’s draft. While the week serves as a first-hand look at the league’s future stars, it’s also an opportunity for fans to hear from coaches and executives. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta and new coach Jesse Minter are in Indianapolis and will meet with the media on Tuesday. Follow along here for The Baltimore Sun’s live coverage and analysis. View the full article

INDIANAPOLIS — The start of NFL free agency is a couple of weeks away, but much of the league’s maneuvering begins in earnest at this week’s scouting combine. Players slated to reach the open market are not allowed to formally hear from teams until March 9, with the new league year commencing March 11. Still, it is among the league’s worst-kept secrets that the next several days in hotel lobbies, meeting rooms and late-night dinners will shape future moves. For the Ravens, the offseason has already been active, beginning with the hiring of head coach Jesse Minter and the assembly of a new staff. Now, a different sort of frenetic tempo arrives. Baltimore has 19 unrestricted free agents, many of whom were starters or otherwise integral contributors last season. The Ravens currently have roughly $13 million in effective salary-cap space, per Over The Cap, and that won’t suffice if they hope to retain key pieces — most notably Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum — while also adding from outside the building. Looming over all of it is the contract status of two-time NFL Most Valuable Player quarterback Lamar Jackson, whose deal will almost certainly need to be restructured or extended to mitigate a prohibitive $74.5 million cap charge. That subject figures to be foremost when general manager Eric DeCosta meets with reporters Tuesday morning, followed by Minter at noon — though it will hardly be the only matter discussed. Here is a look at the major questions facing Baltimore this week. Lamar Jackson watch The good news for the Ravens is that Jackson, who notably represents himself, remains under contract for two more seasons. The complication is that the team almost certainly needs to extend him, or at minimum restructure the agreement. Owner Steve Bisciotti indicated last month that an extension would be preferable. Yet given the protracted negotiations that preceded the contract Jackson signed in 2023, a restructuring may prove the more immediate path. Adding void years would free a meaningful portion of cap space; a full extension could create even more flexibility. Although the combine offers teams a closer look at the next wave of players entering the league, the week is just as much about dialogue as teams try to chart their path forward — at least as much as they’re allowed to do within the boundaries of league rules. What about Tyler Linderbaum? Set to turn 26 in April and already a three-time Pro Bowl selection in four seasons, Linderbaum is Baltimore’s most pressing internal priority. DeCosta has expressed a desire to reach a long-term agreement with the former first-round pick, and Linderbaum has likewise said he would like to remain in Baltimore. Still, the calculus is not entirely straightforward — not when a player of his caliber would command top-of-the-market compensation of about $20 million annually, should he reach free agency. That said, the Ravens have navigated a similar situation before. Related Articles READER POLL: Which position should the Ravens prioritize in the NFL draft? Mike Preston: Pressure ramps up for Ravens GM Eric DeCosta | COMMENTARY 2026 NFL scouting combine preview: What Ravens fans need to know Ravens’ Isaiah Likely weighs future ahead of free agency: ‘This is business’ Mike Preston: New coordinator, new demands for Ravens’ Lamar Jackson | COMMENTARY A year ago, the team found itself in nearly the same position with left tackle Ronnie Stanley. The sides ultimately reached an agreement just before free agency began. Something comparable could unfold with Linderbaum, though his return may be slightly less certain after he acknowledged that he must weigh what is best for his family as well as his career. What to do about Marlon Humphrey? There’s no sugar-coating how much Humphrey, who will turn 30 in July, struggled last season. According to Next Gen Stats, he allowed more receiving yards (831) than any cornerback in the league. Teammate Nate Wiggins ranked second after yielding 810 yards, though he was only in his second season and possesses considerably more developmental upside. Humphrey presents a more complicated decision. He is a four-time Pro Bowler, practices and competes with intensity and provides institutional knowledge to a relatively young secondary that is also thin on established starters. Yet he is also scheduled to count more than $26 million against the cap next season. Designating him a post-June 1 release would clear a little over $19 million in space while leaving roughly $7 million in dead money. Like Jackson, Humphrey does not employ an agent. He also maintains a close relationship with DeCosta. Those circumstances could perhaps allow the two sides to arrive at a more palatable financial arrangement, but no matter what happens the Ravens will look to add to their cornerback room through the draft. The Ravens' Zay Flowers scores a touchdown against the Patriots this past season. Outside of Flowers, Baltimore has questions at the wide receiver position. (Kenneth K. Lam/Staff) What will they do at wide receiver? Three years ago, Baltimore used a first-round pick on Zay Flowers. Since then, he has emerged as the first receiver drafted by the franchise to earn multiple Pro Bowl selections while producing consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Beyond him, however, the depth chart is comparatively thin. Rashod Bateman remains under contract through 2029 but has previously sought a trade and is coming off a down season. DeAndre Hopkins and Tylan Wallace are both scheduled to reach free agency, while third-year receiver Devontez Walker continues to develop. Unsurprisingly, several mock drafts project the Ravens selecting another wide receiver in the first round. That would mark the third time since 2021. There is also the possibility of adding a pass catcher through free agency, though the class is underwhelming, or via trade. One name occasionally mentioned in trade speculation is disgruntled Philadelphia Eagles star A.J. Brown. Biggest needs in the draft After finishing 8-9 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2021, it became evident that Baltimore’s leadership believed several position groups had underachieved, if not regressed. Foremost among them were the offensive line — particularly at guard — and the pass rush. Jackson was sacked 36 times in just 12 games, the highest rate of his eight-year career. Defensively, Baltimore recorded only 30 sacks, the second-lowest total in the league. DeCosta is bullish that second-year guard Emery Jones Jr. can help stabilize the interior, and a first-round selection such as Penn State’s Vega Ioane would further fortify that area. As for a bona fide edge rusher, creating additional cap space could open the door to pursuing Cincinnati Bengals star Trey Hendrickson. Or, perhaps DeCosta will explore trading for Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby. Any of those moves would signal a more assertive approach to reshaping the roster, a tack DeCosta has already suggested he might take. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

The NFL draft is still two months away, but the prospects are getting a close look this week at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. The Ravens, who have the 14th pick, have plenty of needs and will be keeping tabs on all the position groups showing off this week. Which position should the Ravens prioritize in the NFL draft? We want to hear from you. After you vote, leave a comment and we might use your take in The Baltimore Sun. The Baltimore Sun reader poll is an unscientific survey in which website users volunteer their opinions on the subject of the poll. To read the results of previous reader polls, click here. View the full article

The year has already been hectic for the Ravens, and it just got busier for general manager Eric DeCosta. After weeks of interviewing 20 candidates, the team named Jesse Minter as its fourth head coach, shifting all attention to DeCosta, who has 11 picks in the annual NFL draft in late April, including No. 14 overall. While team owner Steve Bisciotti declared DeCosta’s job safe several weeks ago, the onus of the franchise has to shift to DeCosta, who replaced Ozzie Newsome as the general manager in January 2019. It should. DeCosta built the team that fell to Pittsburgh, 26-24, on Jan. 4 and came up one game short of participating in the playoffs. Regardless of what anyone else says, this was the best team in Ravens history on paper. They had a two-time Most Valuable Player at quarterback in Lamar Jackson, one of the best modern-day running backs in Derrick Henry and a secondary composed of five former first-round draft picks in safeties Malaki Starks and Kyle Hamilton and cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins and Jaire Alexander. Oops, scratch Alexander. He was added as a favor to Jackson at the beginning of the season. So now, we focus on DeCosta. He seemed to hit a home run in the hiring of Minter, even though some of his assistants are questionable having coached in college last season. You want to see how they react in tense situations. But where is the announced contract extension for Jackson? Discussions were expected to start at the beginning of the 2025 training camp. If that doesn’t happen before March 11 at 4 p.m., then will the Ravens have money to entice free agents like Los Angeles Chargers pass-rushing specialist Khalil Mack or former Ravens outside linebacker Odafe Oweh? And how about the draft? Will the Ravens pursue a wide receiver or possibly trade for Philadelphia wide receiver A.J. Brown? Now we know why there is so much heat on DeCosta. Negotiating with Jackson is never easy, especially because he doesn’t have an agent. Plus, he likes drama and suspense. The last time DeCosta went through a similar process was in April 2023 when the Ravens signed Jackson to a five-year contract worth $260 million. Unfortunately, Jackson is expected to have a salary cap hit of $74.5 million in 2026 and 2027. Last week, Kansas City star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs announced that they had restructured his deal for the fourth time since 2020 and will pay him $54.45 million as a signing bonus, which will free up $43 million in salary cap space. Newsome used to work similar deals with star linebacker Ray Lewis during the best of his playing days in Baltimore. So, what’s the holdup with Jackson? Are negotiations that tough? Maybe we will find out more Tuesday morning when DeCosta is expected to meet with the media in Indianapolis at the scouting combine. That brings us to free agency. There are 19 Ravens unrestricted free agents, but five this team should re-sign in safety Alohi Gilman, center Tyler Linderbaum, fullback Patrick Ricard, backup quarterback Tyler Huntley and punter Jordan Stout. Even among that group, Ricard isn’t a must and Linderbaum could be joining Harbaugh in New York. Huntley is expendable, too, but has a skil lset similar to Jackson’s as far as running the ball. But once the Ravens re-signed tight end Mark Andrews to a three-year, $39.3 million contract in December, it signaled that backup Isaiah Likely will probably sign elsewhere. Pending the defense the Ravens run with Minter and new coordinator Anthony Weaver, safety Ar’Darius Washington, linebackers Jake Hummel, Dre’Mont Jones, Kyle Van Noy and cornerback Chidobe Awuzie might be expendable, too. There is more intrigue in the draft. Related Articles READER POLL: Which position should the Ravens prioritize in the NFL draft? 2026 NFL scouting combine preview: What Ravens fans need to know Ravens’ Isaiah Likely weighs future ahead of free agency: ‘This is business’ Mike Preston: New coordinator, new demands for Ravens’ Lamar Jackson | COMMENTARY Baltimore sports radio host Jason La Canfora no longer with 105.7 The Fan There have been projections about the Ravens taking a receiver in the draft, such as Arizona State’s Jordyn Tyson or Southern California’s Makai Lemon, to complement slot receiver Zay Flowers, but the Ravens need to remember their own draft history. They’ve had as much success with receivers as the Las Vegas Raiders have had with new head coaches. Since 1996, the Ravens have drafted 36 receivers. Of that group, only four — Jermaine Lewis, Brandon Stokley, Torrey Smith and Flowers — have made strong contributions. Let’s also remember that the Ravens have added veteran free agents like Odell Beckham Jr. and DeAndre Hopkins in recent years. Well, how did that turn out? They need to add an edge rusher like Texas Tech’s David Bailey, Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr., Ohio State’s Arvell Reese or an interior lineman like Clemson’s Peter Woods or Georgia’s Christen Miller. Or, go find some big offensive linemen like Vega Ioane of Penn State or Texas A&M’s Chase Bisontis. Offensive tackles like Utah’s Spencer Fano or Miami’s Francis Mauigoa would help, too. Where is the beef? Interior line play should be the focus of every NFL team, particularly the Ravens. The game has changed and commissioner Roger Goodell has put more emphasis on offense, but games are still won in the trenches. The Ravens were forced into building through the draft when the team first moved here from Cleveland for the start of the 1996 season, and the Modell family had very little money to spend in free agency. Newsome’s first pick in 1996 was offensive tackle Jonathan Ogden at No. 4, and his second selection in the first round was Lewis at No. 26. Then it was Peter Boulware in the first round in 1997 and fellow outside linebacker Jamie Sharper in the second. You get the picture. Now, it’s DeCosta’s time to step up because Harbaugh is gone. Everyone is watching. Have a news tip? Contact Mike Preston at epreston@baltsun.com, 410-332-6467 and x.com/MikePrestonSun. Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey, shown in 2025, is one of the pass rushers available in the NFL draft who could make Baltimore's inconsistent defense better in 2026. (Rick Scuteri — AP Photo, file) View the full article

The Ravens and the rest of the NFL this week descend on Indianapolis, where 319 draft-eligible prospects have been invited to partake in the league’s annual scouting combine. This year’s breakdown includes 166 offensive players, 146 on defense and seven specialists. After finishing 8-9 to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2021 and with a new coaching staff, Baltimore has plenty of needs to address following its disastrous and ineffectual season. As a franchise that fundamentally believes in building the bulk of its roster through the draft, it’s also an important week. The physical and mental evaluations — from 40-yard dashes to interviews — of the future NFL players will offer general manager Eric DeCosta, first-year coach Jesse Minter and the rest of the organization’s braintrust their most intimate picture of players to date. In short, it’s the epicenter of the NFL universe, from what you see on television at Lucas Oil Stadium to the gatherings away from cameras in the hotel lobbies and restaurants where executives, agents, coaching staffs and reporters congregate. For the Ravens, DeCosta will meet with reporters at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, while Minter will do so at noon the same day. There will be plenty of questions for both, from where things stand on contract extension talks with quarterback and two-time NFL Most Valuable Player Lamar Jackson and three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum to what positions they will target with their expected 11 draft picks, including the 14th overall selection, and more. Here’s everything you need to know about the week ahead: Schedule of events and TV info (NFL Network) Thursday: Defensive linemen, linebackers, kickers (3 p.m.) Friday: Defensive backs, tight ends (3 p.m.) Saturday: Quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs (1 p.m.) Sunday: Offensive linemen (1 p.m.) Maryland players to watch There are only two Terps who will be at this year’s scouting combine: offensive tackle Alan Herron and safety Jalen Huskey. Both are likely at best back-end Day 3 draft selections, if they get chosen at all. Still, it’s an opportunity to impress the league’s 32 teams. Being an undrafted free agent is often better than being a seventh-round pick because the player can find the best fit, and both players play positions that Baltimore needs more depth at. Herron, a 6-foot-4, 321-pound native of Jamaica, was honorable mention All-Big Ten last season after starting all 12 games at right tackle (and starting 24 the past two seasons) and as part of a unit that allowed just nine sacks. Huskey (6-1, 199 pounds) is from Frederick and was second-team All-Big Ten in 2025 after a team-best four interceptions across 12 games (11 starts). He also had 72 tackles, which was second on the team. Related Articles Ravens’ Isaiah Likely weighs future ahead of free agency: ‘This is business’ Mike Preston: New coordinator, new demands for Ravens’ Lamar Jackson | COMMENTARY Baltimore sports radio host Jason La Canfora no longer with 105.7 The Fan Ravens GM Eric DeCosta on Tyler Linderbaum contract status, Minter’s hiring How Ravens’ Jesse Minter assembled his staff: ‘Each side of the ball as a puzzle’ The other college player from the state invited was Navy running back/wide receiver Eli Heidenreich. Like the other two, he’s a late-round pick at best. At 5-11, 197 pounds, he could also be an intriguing flier. Viewed as agile and with good hands and burst, he likely projects as a slot receiver at the NFL level after 51 catches for 941 yards and six touchdowns this past season. His 18.5 yards per catch also speaks to his yards-after-catch ability. Possible Ravens targets to watch Vega Ioane, guard, Penn State Picking an offensive lineman 14th overall isn’t the sexiest move, but second-year guard Emery Jones Jr. and Ioane, a 6-4, 335-pound people mover in the running game, could solve the issues the Ravens had with guards Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele last season. Ioane also has the quickness to be a dependable pass blocker. Jordyn Tyson, wide receiver, Arizona State With Rashod Bateman taking a step back in production last season — and having previously sought a trade — along with veteran DeAndre Hopkins unlikely to be back, the Ravens need to find a front-line wide receiver to complement Zay Flowers. The 6-2, 200-pound Tyson tutored under Sun Devils wide receiver coach and former Steelers star Hines Ward and has the requisite tools with enough speed, improved route running and notable contested catch ability. He also has a significant injury history, however. Keldric Faulk, edge, Auburn At 6-6, 285 pounds, Faulk has a long, athletic frame and the kind of versatility the Ravens often covet, with an ability to play outside and in. He needs some polish but with a draft comparison of Carlos Dunlap, who logged at least eight sacks in five of his eight NFL seasons, he could add some much-needed juice to the pass rush alongside last year’s second-round pick, Mike Green. Southern California wide receiver Makai Lemon catches a touchdown pass against Illinois. Lemon is viewed as a top wide receiver prospect in this year's NFL draft. (Craig Pessman/AP) Makai Lemon, wide receiver, Southern California Lemon isn’t big at 5-11, 195 pounds, but he has often been compared to another former Southern California standout: Amon-Ra St. Brown. Like the Detroit Lions star, Lemon has displayed top-end short-area quickness and an ability to make contested catches in the slot. Akheem Mesidor, edge, Miami At 25, Mesidor brings enough experience to step in and contribute immediately as a rookie. He was also part of a powerful 1-2 with Miami’s Reuben Bain on a dominant defense. He’s also described as “instinctive” with a high motor and as having a “fluid” rush style and a “deep” toolbox of moves. Given the uncertainty around Nnamdi Madubuike and a defensive interior that needs depth and some youthful burst, he’d fit right in. Colton Hood, cornerback, Tennessee DeCosta is fond of saying he can never have enough cornerbacks, and given the uncertainty about the future of Marlon Humphrey and Chidobe Awuzie, who is slated to become a free agent, adding an outside defender opposite Nate Wiggins is a major need. Hood has size (6 feet, 195 pounds), speed, is physical and is sticky in coverage. Cashius Howell, edge, Texas A&M The 6-2, 248-pound Howell is quick off the edge and has good bend. He was also productive in college with 11 1/2 sacks last season and 9 1/2 in 2023 for Bowling Green. He still needs development as an edge-setter, but his pass rush skills could pay quick dividends. Davison Igbinoson, cornerback, Ohio State At 6-2, 192 pounds, Igbinoson is another cornerback who fits the physical mold Baltimore likes. He was flagged 16 times in coverage the past two seasons, but that speaks to his physicality and can be cleaned up. He’s also a willing tackler in the run game, and his brother Desmond was an undrafted free agent with the Ravens last year. Gabe Jacas, edge, Illinois Jacas, at 6-3 and 260 pounds, is put together and is versatile, having played with his hand in the dirt and as a stand-up edge. His edge-setting needs work — as do his pass-rush moves — but his wrestling background and thus his ability to maneuver could be appealing to Baltimore, which likes players with diverse athletic backgrounds and skill sets that translate. Also of note: His draft comp is former Raven Matthew Judon. Chase Bisontis, guard, Texas A&M The 6-5, 315-pound interior lineman has heavy hands and a well-balanced repertoire, though his run blocking is ahead of his pass protection, according to scouts. He’s described as having plenty of “nasty” to him as well, something former Ravens great and Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist Marshal Yanda had in spades and goes a long way on the interior. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

Isaiah Likely made two things clear during a recent appearance on Jon Gruden’s “Gruden Goes Long” podcast: Baltimore feels like home — and he’s ready for more. The 25-year-old tight end, set to hit free agency, said he appreciates the Ravens drafting him in 2022 when “all 31 didn’t.” But he also acknowledged the reality of the moment. “Baltimore’s home for me, but at the end of the day, this is business,” Likely said. He told Gruden he has made his priorities clear to his agent: he wants to “blossom” — and he wants to be used as a “chess piece.” Slot. In-line. Out wide. Backfield. He’s not just looking to be a complementary piece behind Mark Andrews again. He wants deployment. “The last couple of years I’ve had a great vet in Mark Andrews, where he’s taught me everything to be a star caliber tight end,” Likely said. “I just want to be on a team where I could just get out there and help a quarterback, help a team be able to put as much points on the board as possible.” Likely also acknowledged the financial reality in Baltimore. Andrews, who finished last season with 422 yards and six touchdowns, agreed to a three-year, $39.3 million extension in December. Top receiver Zay Flowers has two years remaining on his rookie deal, with a $28 million club option for 2027 that could precede an extension. Starting center Tyler Linderbaum is also due for a new contract and is expected to command top-of-market money at his position. Baltimore has just $22 million in cap space, per OverTheCap. Likely understands the cap equation isn’t simple. After a breakout 2024, Likely’s production dipped to 27 catches for 307 yards and one touchdown last season. Part of last season’s modest stat line stemmed from a broken foot l suffered late in training camp. Likely told Gruden he didn’t feel like himself until about Thanksgiving. Likely called it “gruesome” for the injury to have occurred in a contract year. Even with Likely healthy late in the year, the Ravens failed to finish enough games to capture the AFC North or make a deep postseason run. Likely was at the center of one of the season’s defining moments — a controversial overturned touchdown in a December matchup against the Steelers. Officials ruled he did not complete the catch in the fourth quarter, wiping away a go-ahead score that would have put Baltimore ahead with less than three minutes remaining. “I really didn’t get an explanation, if I’m being honest,” Likely said. Related Articles Mike Preston: New coordinator, new demands for Ravens’ Lamar Jackson | COMMENTARY Baltimore sports radio host Jason La Canfora no longer with 105.7 The Fan Ravens GM Eric DeCosta on Tyler Linderbaum contract status, Minter’s hiring How Ravens’ Jesse Minter assembled his staff: ‘Each side of the ball as a puzzle’ 3 takeaways from new Ravens coordinators, including ‘new age’ rebrand In some ways, the play mirrored the Ravens’ season — close, explosive, but ultimately unfinished. “That was kind of the mantra of our season — not finishing,” Likely said. “We’d have explosive plays, then drives would stall out. We just weren’t clicking on all ends.” The frustration carried beyond the field. After 18 seasons, the organization moved on from coach John Harbaugh — a decision Likely admitted stunned the locker room. “When you have a coach in Baltimore for 18 years, it’s a shock to everybody,” he said. “When you have a great team, as we does, where everybody’s putting you on the stratosphere of Super Bowl or bust, it starts getting a little heated in conversation when you don’t make the postseason.” The standard in Baltimore hadn’t changed. The results hadn’t matched it. Now, as the franchise resets under new coach Jesse Minter and Likely prepares to test free agency, both face a similar question: what comes next? Likely says Baltimore is home. But he also says he wants to blossom. Have a news tip? Contact Michael Howes at mhowes@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/Mikephowes. View the full article

The top news to come out of the Ravens’ introductory news conference for their new coordinators Wednesday was a declaration by offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. Despite all the record-setting accomplishments by two-time Most Valuable Player and quarterback Lamar Jackson, the ninth-year player was going to have to make some adjustments in Doyle’s variation of the West Coast offense. There is the play called in the huddle, and then there is Jackson improvising. One needs more consistency, even though the best moments for the Ravens have always been Jackson running around and making plays. Not anymore. “That first can be more consistent at times, with his eyes, his footwork within the system,” Doyle, 29, said. “That’s kind of what I’ve noticed is that we’ve watched the tape, and this is stuff — as soon as he gets in here — I’m really fired up to sit with him and start to talk through a lot of that stuff because you don’t always get the full picture until you’re really sitting with a player and talking. “How are you being coached or what were you supposed to be looking at? And once you start to be able to have that dialogue, that’s where progress exists.” This will be interesting. Doyle’s offense is predicated on short to intermediate passes that create space and features a power running game. Timing on routes is a key, an area in which Jackson has to improve. Whenever he has struggled, it was always through sloppy and faulty mechanics. The Ravens rarely used short-timing patterns, except possibly to Rashod Bateman on slants to the wide side of the field. Quick hitch patterns had become obsolete, and there was no such thing as a deep comeback pattern, which the team is still unlikely to use. “With Lamar, obviously, the biggest thing with him is that a defense has to defend two plays on every play,” Doyle said. “They have to defend the first play that we call that we have designed and game-planned, and try to stress the defense. And then they have to defend the second element, which is Lamar creating on his own, that second act, which is the stuff that he has done since he was a kid.” It’s a sound concept. According to Doyle, he has spent more than an hour on Zoom with Jackson during the interview process, and they have traded a few text messages. Jackson’s relationship with former coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Todd Monken was strained in 2025, and even Monken has admitted that the communication with his quarterback needed to be better. But the positive news is that the Ravens hopefully will reach a new contract extension with Jackson before free agency begins on March 11. That could solve some of his differences with the ballclub last season, which included Jackson missing midweek practices because of injuries. This offense, though, isn’t all about Jackson. The Ravens kept forgetting about running back Derrick Henry and panicked in playoff losses to both Kansas City and Buffalo in two of the previous three seasons. “When I talk about physicality, it is those guys trying to impose their will on the defense, trying to create expansion in the offense and the run game,” Doyle said. “Us being detailed across the board, whether that is in the passing game, the route detail, the quarterback’s footwork, his eyes, all those things, or how all our jobs fit in the run game.” The Ravens need to improve their play on the offensive line. Both starting guards, Andrew Vorhees and Daniel Faalele, struggled last season as well as second-year player and right tackle Roger Rosengarten. Center Tyler Linderbaum is a free agent and has been criticized for his lack of size (6-foot-2, 305 pounds) so it wouldn’t be surprising if he ended up in New York with his old head coach. Related Articles Baltimore sports radio host Jason La Canfora no longer with 105.7 The Fan Ravens GM Eric DeCosta on Tyler Linderbaum contract status, Minter’s hiring How Ravens’ Jesse Minter assembled his staff: ‘Each side of the ball as a puzzle’ 3 takeaways from new Ravens coordinators, including ‘new age’ rebrand Josh Tolentino: Ravens special teams need their bite back | COMMENTARY The receivers could use an upgrade, too. Bateman is the X-factor, but it’s hard to tell what you’re going to get from him game to game. They have Zay Flowers, who is excellent in the slot, but would be more effective if the Ravens had a big, No. 1 receiver on the outside. But this offense starts and ends with Jackson. If he learns the offense and plays well, like second-year quarterback Caleb Wiliams did last year in Chicago’s offense, the Ravens have a decent shot of advancing into the postseason. As a rookie, Williams threw for 3,541 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. Last year, Williams had 3,942 passing yards and 27 touchdowns as the Bears improved from 5-12 to 11-6 and won their first playoff game since 2010. Jackson doesn’t need a complete overhaul, just to get better. Doyle, though, has another new job. In Chicago, coach Ben Johnson approved all his game plans. In Baltimore, Doyle will call the plays. “Knowledge is power,” he said, “and if they feel like you can help them and they feel you can help accelerate their careers and our a goals as team, guys are willing to listen, guys are willing to be taught and to grow and work together. “There are similarities in the jobs, but now being the last guy to see it, articulating the visions, being able to sell that to the players, and then ultimately, being able to call the plays on game day was what attracted me to this opportunity.” Have a news tip? Contact Mike Preston at epreston@baltsun.com, 410-332-6467 and x.com/MikePrestonSun. View the full article

Baltimore sports radio personality Jason La Canfora confirmed to The Baltimore Sun he is no longer with 105.7 The Fan. La Canfora had co-hosted the show “Inside Access” since 2020 after stints covering the NFL for the Washington Post, NFL Network and CBS Sports. The Banner first reported his ousting. La Canfora was one year into a three-year deal with The Fan. He told The Sun that the station’s programming director held a meeting on Friday “to talk about being number one in all the weekly ratings and to tell us we had the best YouTube numbers at the station.” The situation apparently changed days later, with La Canfora saying, “there were no specifics given” for the change. “They would not say anything other than they were moving in a different direction,” he added, after appearing on Wednesday’s show, which runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Audacy Baltimore senior vice president/market manager Tracy Brandys sent a memo to staff, one employee of The Fan confirmed, writing, “We will begin the process of identifying his replacement and will post the position in the near future. We wish Jason the best in his future endeavors.” Inside Access co-host Ken Weinman delivered an official announcement at the start of Thursday’s show that La Canfora, a Baltimore native, is no longer with the station. “You don’t hear Jason La Canfora,” Weinman said. “He is no longer with Audacy, but ‘Inside Access’ will continue. We wish Jason the very best, but hopefully you will continue to listen.” La Canfora has been a polarizing figure, inciting controversy among Orioles and Ravens fans by way of criticism aimed toward Orioles general manager Mike Elias as well as Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta and owner Steve Bisciotti. Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Sam appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

New Ravens coach Jesse Minter has finalized his staff, assembling a mélange of experiences and backgrounds. Quarterback Lamar Jackson and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle have already spent time discussing their vision for the offense. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and special teams coordinator Anthony Levine Sr. are back on the same sideline they once patrolled as players in Baltimore. Still, the work is only beginning. For general manager Eric DeCosta, the offseason is his season. He often arrives at the team’s facility in Owings Mills as early as 3 a.m. on weekends, hoping to steal a few quiet hours to study tape of NFL prospects, he said on “The Inner Circle” podcast with former star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, television reporter Zach Klein and agent Todd France. Preparing for next week’s scouting combine in Indianapolis was only one of several topics he touched on. Another was the search that preceded the hiring of Minter. “We had some great candidates,” DeCosta said. “We had probably five finalists. “In the end, given the rules, we were able to interview three of the five finalists.” Those rules concern the timing of coaching interviews during the postseason. Baltimore’s process — and the calendar — meant that two of the finalists never reached the final stage, likely because their teams were still alive in the conference championship games. Coaches involved in those games cannot meet with other teams in person until their season ends. The conference title games were played Jan. 25. The Ravens hired Minter on Jan. 22. Three coaches whom Baltimore had interviewed earlier over Zoom — Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb and Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak — were coaching that weekend in the AFC and NFC championship games. Could one of them have impressed DeCosta, executive vice president Ozzie Newsome and team president Sashi Brown enough to land the job? Perhaps. In the end, only Kubiak — whose father previously served as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator — went on to secure a head coaching position elsewhere, with the Las Vegas Raiders. DeCosta, though, expressed little hesitation about the direction the Ravens chose. “Change can be good,” he said. “With change comes innovation and new ways of doing things, new ways of practicing, a new scheme and all these different things. “That’s going to give us an advantage, I think, this year.” Related Articles Baltimore sports radio host Jason La Canfora no longer with 105.7 The Fan How Ravens’ Jesse Minter assembled his staff: ‘Each side of the ball as a puzzle’ 3 takeaways from new Ravens coordinators, including ‘new age’ rebrand Josh Tolentino: Ravens special teams need their bite back | COMMENTARY Ravens OC Declan Doyle details Lamar Jackson call, vision for ‘explosive’ offense Less ambiguous is the importance of trying to re-sign three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum. “We’ve got some work to do on his contract,” DeCosta said. “We strongly hope to have him back. He’s a great player for us and a great leader.” Linderbaum, who turns 26 in April, would be among the most sought-after players on the market if he reaches free agency, which opens in earnest March 9. The Ravens declined his fifth-year option last offseason — a move that would have cost $23.4 million had they not done so — but DeCosta made clear then, and again recently, that the team hopes to keep the former first-round pick from Iowa in Baltimore for the long term. Doing so, however, will not come cheaply. The Kansas City Chiefs’ All-Pro center Creed Humphrey is currently the highest-paid player at the position, earning $18 million per year after signing a four-year, $72 million extension in August 2024. Linderbaum could command a similar figure — or more — if he reaches the open market. For now, Linderbaum has said he would like to remain in Baltimore, while acknowledging he must do what is best for him and his family. Baltimore currently has about $13.4 million in effective salary cap space, according to Over the Cap, though that figure is likely to change. One possibility would be an extension or restructure involving Jackson, whose contract carries a $74.5 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons. Along with Linderbaum, DeCosta said he would like to “augment” the guard position. He spoke highly of 2025 rookie Emery Jones Jr., whom he believes could compete for a starting role replacing either Andrew Vorhees or Daniel Faalele. Just as pressing, he added, is the need to generate more pressure on opposing quarterbacks after the Ravens finished second-to-last in sacks last season. Part of that problem stemmed from the loss of defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike, who suffered a season-ending neck injury. Whether he will return next season remains uncertain, and DeCosta pointed to a group of younger players who could help close that gap in the months ahead. Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

The last time the Ravens broke in a new head coach and three new coordinators at once, “Mr. Holland’s Opus” was near the top of the box office, and their current offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, was still a month from being born. It was February 1996 and the NFL had just approved then-owner Art Modell’s move from Cleveland. Three decades later, the Ravens find themselves in a different kind of reset. How new coach Jesse Minter, 42, intends to manage so much change in an organization that has been principled on foundational consistency for three decades is the principal question. Minter of course knows that history well. He served as a defensive assistant here from 2017 to 2020. “There’s a great piece of being here before and understanding the foundation — understanding a lot of the history, understanding what this place has been built on,” he said Wednesday. “But I’ve also formulated some of my own ideas over the last few years. There’s a foundational way that the Ravens play that we need to play like, but I also think there’s a new age and a new way to do things.” New age, indeed. Minter wore a hoodie beneath his sport coat as he sat at a long table flanked to his left by special teams coordinator Anthony Levine Sr., Doyle and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. A bottle of water rested in front of each — a small but noticeable departure from the can of Diet Coke that had long accompanied John Harbaugh. As Minter assembled his first staff, he returned repeatedly to a handful of words: leaders, connectors, teachers. Schematic fluency mattered. So did presence. Among his 24 assistants are five who came directly from the college ranks. There is also Doyle, the youngest play-caller in the league, and Minter’s 71-year-old father, Rick — once Harbaugh’s boss eons ago at the University of Cincinnati. The range is deliberate. “You definitely look at, specifically, each side of the ball as a puzzle, making sure that Declan has his experiences and where he’s been. You want him to be surrounded by people that can help him do the job at the highest level, so there are a few [coaches] that maybe he’s worked with prior,” he said. “There are also a few that I have history with, and then there are different levels of experience, and there are different levels of guys that have been play-callers, passing game coordinators, all those different types of things that can really help support a younger, newer play caller that I felt like maybe I had as I was coming up as that type of position. “Then on defense, I was really looking for teachers, connectors, fundamentalists and how they’ll teach the guys how to play defense and what we expect, how to play defense like the Ravens need to play defense.” Experience, he suggested, was less about résumé than about resonance. The youth movement is impossible to ignore. Minter is just outside the league’s 10 youngest head coaches, but this is his first time as a head coach. Doyle is two months younger than quarterback Lamar Jackson. Weaver, passed over twice previously for the defensive coordinator job in Baltimore, is still just 45. Special teams coordinator Anthony Levine Sr., is a former player who has been a coach in the league since 2022 but is just 38. Defensive pass game coordinator Mike Mickens (Notre Dame), defensive line coach Lou Esposito (Michigan), outside linebackers coach Harland Bower (Duke) and safeties coach P.J. Volker (Navy) have never coached in the NFL, while assistant defensive backs coach Miles Taylor (Nebraska) had only a brief stint last year as a coaching fellow with the Los Angeles Chargers under Minter. Mickens (38), Bower (37) and Taylor (30) are all under 40. For Doyle, the age is less a liability than it is a bridge. “It actually is a little bit easier for me to connect with guys because we are the same age,” he said. “We grew up in the same world.” Doyle has, as he said, been “too young for every job” he has held. The lesson, as he sees it, is that authority flows less from seniority than from utility. “Knowledge is power,” he said. “If they feel like you can help them and they feel like you can help accelerate their career and our goals as a team, guys are willing to listen, guys are willing to be taught and to grow and to work together.” The template for this recalibration is familiar. Related Articles 3 takeaways from new Ravens coordinators, including ‘new age’ rebrand Josh Tolentino: Ravens special teams need their bite back | COMMENTARY Ravens OC Declan Doyle details Lamar Jackson call, vision for ‘explosive’ offense Ravens DC Anthony Weaver, passed over as head coach, has next best thing Mike Preston: For Ravens’ defense, boring is necessary | COMMENTARY Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl before 40. Rams coach Sean McVay was 30 when L.A. hired him and at 36 is the youngest coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl. Mike Macdonald, 38 and a former defensive coordinator for the Ravens, guided the Seattle Seahawks to the title this season. Coordinators such as Joe Brady, Kellen Moore, Kyle Shanahan and Klint Kubiak all held those roles in their 30s before going on to become head coaches. Put another way, teams have increasingly entrusted offenses, defenses — or the lead chair — to coaches who once might have had to wait. Minter had been contemplating his own version of that shift well before Baltimore called. Last year, as defensive coordinator of the Chargers, he studied offensive systems across the league, paying particular attention to what Ben Johnson built in Detroit, where he was the offensive coordinator before taking over as the Chicago Bears head coach this season. Doyle, though he never worked under Johnson before 2025, had interviewed with him in 2022 and came, Minter said, “very, very highly recommended.” “Age is just a number,” Minter said. “This is his eighth year in the National Football League. He’s worked his way up. I think he’s really well prepared for this opportunity.” The staff is also not exclusively young. Offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, 49, held the same job with the Atlanta Falcons. Senior offensive assistant coach Joe Lombardi, 54, was the Denver Broncos’ offensive coordinator the past three seasons. Running backs coach Eddie Faulkner, 48, had been with the Steelers since 2019. Pass game coordinator Marcus Brady, who followed Minter from L.A., has been a coach in the league since 2018 and had stints with the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles. Tight ends coach Zack Grossi spent the past four seasons with the Broncos. Offensive quality control coach Patrick Kramer spent the past five years with the Falcons, while wide receivers coach Keary Colbert was with Denver the past three years. Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, left, and defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver are two crucial members of Jesse Minter's initial staff. The group of coaches includes rising stars and proven veteran assistants. (Brian Krista/Staff) Levine, like Weaver, is a former player and is widely respected in the building, from players to executives. If the younger hires suggest a generational turn, the foundation remains seasoned. The central aim is cultural rather than chronological. “I think when they feel that it’s collaborative — when they feel that it’s ours and not just the coaches — that’s when you get the best version of everybody,” Minter said shortly after getting the job. Now that his staff is complete, the calendar also accelerates. The scouting combine looms. The offseason program begins in early April, followed by the draft at the end of it. There are voluntary workouts and training camp. The sprint, as Minter calls it, is already underway. “We’re on a sprint as a coaching staff up until April 6 to make sure that we’re ready for the players,” Minter said. “Then when they get here, it’s about creating an environment that they feel great about, that they feel like they’re becoming better, that they feel like they’re improving, they feel like they’re becoming the best version of themselves. “And then we certainly want to have everybody have high expectations from the outside. We want to build standards inside that match what we want the results to be. I think if we do that, we have a hungry group that is coming off of a year that they’re not as proud of as some of the previous seasons, and so there is a hunger amongst the players to get right back to work and hit the ground running.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article

Late Wednesday morning, Ravens coach Jesse Minter introduced the three coordinators who will lead his first NFL staff. Minter wore a black hoodie, gray blazer and an eager grin, proudly showing off the three prominent leaders of his 25-person staff, which he finalized in a matter of 21 days. “We’re on a sprint as a coaching staff up until April 6 to make sure that we’re ready for the players,” Minter said. Here are three takeaways from the coordinator introductions: Coaching staff is embracing ‘new age’ Ravens Executive vice president Ozzie Newsome started using the phrase in the mid-aughts. Former coach John Harbaugh wrapped his arms around it in 2008, his first year on the job. A year later, the team’s marketing department full-court pressed what has since evolved into a long-standing mantra for football in Baltimore. To “Play like a Raven,” legendary defensive tackle Haloti Ngata once said, means “being nasty and playing rough, tough football. … It’s a nastiness where you’re going to impose your will on teams.” Minter’s fingerprints will inevitably mark up these Ravens while, he said, maintaining the integrity of those who built a reputation before him. But he wasn’t afraid to embrace change. He twice referenced a “new age” rebrand of what it means to play like a Raven. “There’s a foundational way that the Ravens play that we need to play like, but I also think that there’s a new age and a new way to do things, and that’s the reason we’re all sitting up here,” Minter said. “Change can be embraced, change can energize people, and so we really look forward to it. I think it’ll be up to everybody watching us to see what’s different about it. Not necessarily us, but everybody [will be] watching to determine what maybe the differences are.” This was a pressing question from the moment owner Steve Bisciotti fired Harbaugh. Would they steer into a completely new direction? Or might they promote someone with close ties to the organization and stay on the same course that has blocked them from football’s ultimate prize? With Minter, it seems they’ve struck a balance. With his staff, he’s maintaining the credibility of folks who have walked the hallways in Owings Mills, rounded out by coaches from different backgrounds who check specific football and relational boxes. Minter solved his coaching staff puzzle “irrelevant of pro experience, college experience or years of experience.” His staff represents what they’re calling a “new age” of what it means to play like a Raven. What that looks like will become more apparent once they get on the field together. Doyle has no fear about being a first-time play-caller Three hours before every NFL game Doyle has been a part of — as a quality control coach in New Orleans, tight ends coach in Denver then non-play-calling offensive coordinator in Chicago — he stepped onto the turf by himself. There, he’d walk up and down the field simulating four offensive drives in his mind. “I knew that the first time I was going to call plays probably wasn’t going to be in a smaller setting,” Doyle said. “It was probably going to be with the bright lights. I felt like I needed to prepare for that early. So, in that way, I’ve kind of been preparing just to be able to call it and kind of how your mind works.” Cheesy? Perhaps. Did it help? We’ll find out. Doyle is 29 years old, the same age as Lamar Jackson — a fact that is sure to be rehashed ad nauseam. In Chicago, he was the offensive coordinator under NFL Coach of the Year finalist, Ben Johnson. Now, he’ll call plays for what was an historically great offense just two seasons ago. Doyle wasn’t timid about these new responsibilities. Related Articles How Ravens’ Jesse Minter assembled his staff: ‘Each side of the ball as a puzzle’ Josh Tolentino: Ravens special teams need their bite back | COMMENTARY Ravens OC Declan Doyle details Lamar Jackson call, vision for ‘explosive’ offense Ravens DC Anthony Weaver, passed over as head coach, has next best thing Mike Preston: For Ravens’ defense, boring is necessary | COMMENTARY For one, he said they’re in the early stages of “really stripping this [offense] down to the studs and then rebuilding it around the personnel that we have here.” That starts with Jackson, the quintessential dual-threat quarterback who Doyle praised for having Superman-like qualities. Doyle has every intention of utilizing Jackson’s mastery to chase explosive plays. And he won’t shy away from the kind of trickery that became a regular part of Johnson’s Bears offense. Doyle has three nonnegotiables: “that we are physical, we are detailed and we are explosive.” He side-stepped any analysis of the 2025 offense, which struggled to consistently find its footing, but referenced Baltimore’s 2024 group — the first in NFL history to eclipse 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a single season — as “something to be reckoned with” and the kind of success they’ll chase. That starts in optional team activities. Two years in a row, Jackson has forfeited $750,000 by failing to attend at least 80% of the team’s voluntary workouts. That clause is etched into the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player’s contract through 2027. He’s seemingly ignored it. Doyle did not directly mention Jackson, but in his first meeting with local reporters, he said he “expects” players to be there. He didn’t bite his tongue about why. “If you want to say that you’re going to win a championship, you want to say that you have championship standards, and those are your goals and your expectations,” Doyle said, “certainly that’s going to take work, that’s going to take collaboration, and that’s going to take the beginning of building the relationship with their coaches and other players starting off this next regime on the right foot.” For Weaver, Ravens DC is ‘hardly a consolation prize’ There were 10 NFL head coach vacancies. Weaver interviewed for five of them, including the Ravens. All five passed over the former Dolphins defensive coordinator. So Minter called him, with a proposition of returning to coach the team that drafted him and helping re-establish a dominant Ravens defense. Weaver admitted he was disappointed to not get a head job this cycle. It made him take stock of his own priorities. He looked in the mirror and asked himself why he was still coaching. The answer was simple: to hoist a Lombardi Trophy and to help players get the most out of their careers. “I don’t need to be a head coach to do that,” he said. “I can certainly do that from this seat.” Ravens defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, shown at Wednesday's news conference, admitted to having some disappointment about not being named a head coach during this offseason's hiring cycle. (Brian Krista/Staff) Furthermore, Weaver’s perception of the Ravens’ defensive coordinator opening, even without being a play-caller, is a more prestigious role than most other coordinator jobs around the league. That’s because he played for the kind of teams contemporary players revered, and he helped coach the most recent example of a Ravens defense atop the NFL. With this job, he said, “you’re the dude.” Even though Minter will call the plays, he and Weaver have already talked at length about what’s needed in that room. Minter wants a defensive coordinator who can lead men through brick walls and someone to articulate scheme and buy into the selfless role of building a championship contender. He found Weaver. And despite the disappointment of being passed over by several NFL teams, Weaver found Minter. To him, coaching the Ravens is “hardly a consolation prize.” Have a news tip? Contact Sam Cohn at scohn@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/samdcohn.x.com. Sam appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

Anthony Levine Sr. sat at the podium Wednesday morning in Owings Mills, dressed in a black suit and checkered button-up with a pair of diamond earrings, as cameras flashed and shuttered. Alongside his coaching peers Declan Doyle and Anthony Weaver, Levine was formally introduced by coach Jesse Minter as the Ravens’ new special teams coordinator. But Minter didn’t stop at the title. “I just picture him as the face of Baltimore special teams,” the first-year coach said of Levine. For a franchise that has built championships on electric special teams moments, Minter’s descriptor set a lofty bar. From Jermaine Lewis racing down the sideline in Super Bowl XXXV to the late Jacoby Jones sprinting 108 yards in Super Bowl XLVII, special teams has served a foundational role in the organization’s biggest moments. Even former head coach John Harbaugh cut his teeth as a special teams guru, a reminder that the third phase is entrenched to the franchise’s DNA. Former general manager and executive vice president Ozzie Newsome used to tell young players the same thing Levine recalled Wednesday: “I pay you to make plays on special teams, so I expect you to make plays on special teams.” “That right there told me off the muscle that I better start making plays on special teams, and we know that,” Levine said. “We know special teams is not just, ‘Go out there, and just play special teams.’ …We are here to make sure that we impact the game in a positive way.” The Ravens are hoping Levine can carry and lift that standard as the 38-year-old replaces his predecessor Chris Horton, who followed Harbaugh to New York. Last season, the Ravens ranked 18th in the NFL in special teams EPA, according to TruMedia, which factors expected success in kickoffs, punts, field goal attempts and two-point attempts. Overall, Baltimore was functional, but not an elite group. There were highlights and lowlights scattered across the 2025 campaign that saw the Ravens finish 8-9, including a franchise-worst 3-6 mark at M&T Bank Stadium. Punter Jordan Stout, a pending free agent, delivered a career year, leading the NFL with a 44.9-yard net average. He placed 24 punts inside the 20-yard line with just six touchbacks. He earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors and climbed from 19th to fifth in Puntalytics’ annual rankings. Rookie kicker Tyler Loop made 88.2% (30 of 34) of his field goal attempts, but faltered under the brightest lights. His missed kick during the regular-season finale sealed Baltimore’s (and Harbaugh’s) fate and helped send Pittsburgh to the postseason. Loop also posted a league-worst eight kickoff infractions. Featured punt returner LaJohntay Wester flashed with his 12.4-yard punt return average, which ranked 10th in the NFL and more than two yards above the league average. The rookie wide receiver’s ceiling was visible, especially when he chose to be a vertical runner. But then came his muff inside the 10-yard line against Cleveland in Week 11. The mistake marked consecutive weeks with fumbles, stalled his momentum and his confidence dipped. Between Weeks 12 to 18, Wester registered just four additional punt returns for 25 yards. Can Wester shake off the nerves from Year 1 and evolve into a true dynamite in his incoming sophomore campaign? Related Articles Ravens OC Declan Doyle details Lamar Jackson call, vision for ‘explosive’ offense Ravens DC Anthony Weaver, passed over as head coach, has next best thing Mike Preston: For Ravens’ defense, boring is necessary | COMMENTARY After former Ravens RB Jamal Lewis’ pardon, Olszewski’s reform plan gains support READER POLL: How do you grade the Orioles’ offseason moves? Across the board, the Ravens had a whopping 42 missed tackles on special teams, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked 28th in the NFL and last in the AFC North. In comparison, first-place Pittsburgh had just 20 special-teams missed tackles. Will Levine help restore the unit’s bite? He at least understands the magnitude of playing special teams because he filled those cleats for a decade, starring with the Ravens between 2012 and 2021. He prolonged his career for his performance on coverage units and earned the nickname “Co-Cap” for the way teammates responded to his voice. About that voice … fans can certainly get used to hearing more of Levine. During my first year covering the Ravens, Levine, an assistant special teams coach last season, was one of the most audible coaches on the practice field. He often barked instructions and demanded excellence from players under his watch, unfazed by nearby onlookers. His coaching style has led to excellent relationships away from the field. On Tuesday night, Levine received a phone call from rookie Keondre Jackson, who flew in from his native Freeport, Illinois, to attend the news conference and support one of his biggest mentors in Levine. Jackson, a former undrafted free agent out of Illinois State, earned his elevations and eventual promotion from the practice squad to the active roster last season largely because of his effort on special teams. Despite playing in just 12 games, Jackson led the Ravens with 13 special teams tackles. “That speaks [to] the volume of the type of players that we have and the type of connection that I have with these guys,” Levine said. “They understand the standard, they understand the culture. Chris [Horton] did a great job of always putting me in front of the room. [With] my leadership style, the way I interact with them, the way I challenge them [and] the way we hold each other accountable. … These guys, they respect me. “We don’t talk a lot about how much I did when I played, because it’s not about what I did when I played. It’s more about them, and it’s more about me being able to teach them to go out there and be productive and have a great career that they want to have.” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said Wednesday he views Anthony Levine Sr. as "the face" of Baltimore special teams. (Brian Krista/Staff) Levine also boasts a unique advantage given that he played for Minter during Minter’s first stint in Baltimore. Minter rose from defensive assistant to defensive backs coach during his four seasons (2017 to 2020), all of which overlapped with Levine. “He’s earned this position,” Minter said of Levine. “This isn’t like he was just handed this position; he’s earned the right to be in this position, and he’ll be a great leader for our special teams. Again, [he is] a connector, a relationship builder. I couldn’t be more excited. [Levine, Doyle and Weaver] will help us create the vision of what we want the team to be like, and how we want to play.” Calling Levine the face of special teams does not guarantee a return to dominance, and like his coordinator peers Weaver and Doyle, he is not being asked to reinvent the standard. Newsome once told Levine he was paid and expected to make plays on special teams. Now Levine is responsible for drilling that message and making his unit consistently dominant. Have a news tip? Contact Josh Tolentino at jtolentino@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200, x.com/JCTSports and instagram.com/JCTSports. Josh appears as a host on The Sun’s “Early Birds” podcast. View the full article

As 29-year-old Declan Doyle interviewed to become the Ravens’ new offensive coordinator, he spent more than an hour on Zoom with quarterback Lamar Jackson. It was less formal than a calibration. They discussed the architecture of an offense — what it should feel like, how it should stress a defense, where it might bend without breaking. Doyle, two months younger than the two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, wanted to know whether they were “compatible.” They have traded a few text messages since. “I am certainly very excited about the caliber of player he is,” Doyle said Wednesday in Owings Mills, where he was introduced alongside new defensive and special teams coordinators Anthony Weaver and Anthony Levine Sr. “His willingness to listen, his hunger to learn, his hunger to grow. He’s a guy with a growth mindset.” In Baltimore, as Jackson goes, so go the Ravens. And now Doyle — who will be the league’s youngest play-caller, ascending after a season as the offensive coordinator in Chicago under head coach Ben Johnson, who handled the play-calling — has been tasked with restoring the offense to its recent heights if not surpassing them. Two years ago, Baltimore became the first team in league history to amass 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in the same season; the year before that, Jackson claimed his second MVP after posting career highs in touchdown passes (41) and passing yards (4,172) Doyle apprenticed under offensive wizzes Johnson and Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton. Now, under first-year head coach Jesse Minter – who replaced John Harbaugh after 18 seasons – Doyle says he is “actively chasing” a return to that earlier form. He describes his offensive vision with three adjectives: physical, detailed, explosive. “Those are three things we want to hang our hat on,” he said. The phrasing is familiar; the implementation, he insists will not be. They are “stripping this down to the studs,” then rebuilding around the personnel. A construction metaphor, yes, but in Doyle’s case it has some biographical symmetry. As a toddler, he napped beneath the bleachers at Kinnick Stadium at Iowa, where his father, Chris, served as the longtime strength and conditioning coach. At five, he drew plays at the kitchen table. He briefly flirted with another life — he captained the baseball team at Iowa Western Community College — but coaching was gravitational and he transferred to Iowa his sophomore year and became a student assistant for the football team in 2016. The tight end room that season included George Kittle, T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant. While Doyle’s father’s career effectively came to an end four years later amid accusations of racism and bullying that led to a separation agreement with the university, his son’s was just taking off. By 2019, Payton had hired him as an offensive assistant in New Orleans, where Drew Brees was the quarterback. The tight ends coach on the team at the time was also current Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell. Three years later, Doyle interviewed for the Lions’ tight ends coach opening. Johnson, then offensive coordinator, ended up going with Tanner Engstrand, who was 14 years older and more experienced, but the two remained in touch. Related Articles Ravens DC Anthony Weaver, passed over as head coach, has next best thing Mike Preston: For Ravens’ defense, boring is necessary | COMMENTARY After former Ravens RB Jamal Lewis’ pardon, Olszewski’s reform plan gains support READER POLL: How do you grade the Orioles’ offseason moves? Ex-Ravens DC Zach Orr reportedly joining Seahawks, Mike Macdonald When Payton re-emerged in Denver in 2023, he brought Doyle with him to be his tight ends coach. Two years after that, Johnson called back, this time to be his offensive coordinator in Chicago, where Johnson called the plays but Doyle was charged with game-planning and running meetings, among other duties, and to be the go-between for a seamless transition when Johnson had to tend to head coaching matters. Never mind that Doyle was younger than most of the players he was coaching. “When I learned his age, I was like, ‘That makes no sense,'” Broncos tight end Adam Trautman told Yahoo Sports last year. “It was like, ‘Show me your birth certificate, dude. Because that’s bulls—.’ Holy crap.” In Baltimore, Doyle considers that proximity in age to his players an advantage. “We grew up in the same world,” he said. He has, by his accounting, always been the youngest in the room. “What I’ve noticed is it really doesn’t matter. Knowledge is power.” Doyle’s preparation, like that of his players, also borders on ritual. Three hours before kickoff. he walks the field alone and scripts four imaginary drives in his mind. He began the practice in 2019, suspecting that his first opportunity to call plays would arrive not in some low-stakes environment but beneath bright lights. Better to have been there before. Doyle, whose two brothers work for the Indianapolis Colts and New York Jets, also doesn’t see a lack of experience that others might. “I’ve been preparing for it for a long time,” he said. “Yes you are calling a play on game day, but the prep during the week is where the work exists.” Minter could see the depths and Doyle’s talents, too. A defensive coach by trade, Minter had studied offensive systems while exploring coaching opportunities last offseason. Johnson’s unit in Detroit surfaced; so did Doyle’s name. “He’s a connector,” Minter said. “A collaborator. Creative. We see football the same way.” In a building recalibrating after Harbaugh’s departure and the ascension of former coordinator Todd Monken to the Cleveland Browns head coach job, alignment is paramount. Jackson, for his part, is coming off the most uneven season of his career — injuries, four missed games, an offense that regressed. Doyle has immersed himself in the tape. What he sees is brilliance and margin. Jackson, he noted, forces defenses to defend two plays: the one called in the huddle and the one improvised when structure dissolves. The first, Doyle suggested carefully, “can be more consistent at times with his eyes, with his footwork, within the system.” Doyle spoke often of relationships and dialogue, too, including sitting down with Jackson to assemble the “full picture,” because “once you start to be able to have that dialogue that’s where progress exists.” The work will begin in earnest at voluntary organized team activities this spring. Doyle did not equivocate. Championship standards, he implied, require championship attendance. “We would expect them to be here,” he said. That expectation extends, of course, to Jackson. He has already proven to be perhaps the sport’s best player when at his zenith. Doyle’s job is to help him find it again – if not exceed it. “He’s played at a really high level,” Doyle said. “And still, I think he wants to continue to work and feels like he can get better. We’re excited to chase that with him.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, right, says he's excited to work with Lamar Jackson in 2026. Doyle enters his first season as a play-caller with lofty expectations. (Brian Krista/Staff) View the full article