ExtremeRavens Posted yesterday at 09:20 PM Posted yesterday at 09:20 PM 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. 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. New Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said that during the interview process, he spent over an hour speaking with Lamar Jackson on Zoom. The two have spoken a few times as the two-time MVP quarterback and first-time play caller get to know each other. : Sam Cohn,… pic.twitter.com/ri2rveqNj8 — The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) February 18, 2026 “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 Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.