Ravens Insider: 5 things we learned from Ravens’ DeCosta, Minter at NFL scouting combine

[ExtremeRavens]

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.”

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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.”

READER POLL: Which position should the Ravens prioritize in the NFL draft?

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.

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