Declan Doyle Reveals Big Changes In Store For 2026 Ravens Offense

The NFL is moving in the direction of getting out of shotgun-heavy sets and seeking more diversity in the looks it throws at defenses.

The brightest offensive minds have already been doing it, including Sean Payton, mentor to Ravens rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, and everyone we’ve chatted with in the football world on “The Daily Flock Show” has informed us it’s coming to Baltimore in a big way (Payton himself indicated as such and Sean McVay, who everybody copies, told us how vital being the most under-center offense in the NFL is to him).

On Thursday, Ravens hybrid safety Kyle Hamilton was asked a generic question about Lamar Jackson and immediately began commenting how comfortable and great he looks operating under center. And it didn’t take long Friday before Doyle, speaking for the first time during training camp and just the second time since his into press conference, was asked about Lamar going under center like never before.

“He’s very natural at it,” Doyle said. “He’s a quick mover. You would never notice that he hasn’t been under there that much. He really has the ability to do all three – he can be in the pistol, he can be in the gun. It’s really a lot of versatility in his game.”

Jackson and Jalen Hurts are by far the quarterbacks who have been under center the least since entering the NFL. Jackson has been getting more snaps there under former offensive coordinator Todd Monken after never really doing it in greg Roman’s offense, but nothing like what Doyle was a part of in Chicago last year where youngster Caleb Williams went from 75% in the gun as a rookie to second only to the Rams Matt Stafford in under-center snaps in 2025. Times are changing, folks.

The ability to deceive and freeze a defense, and buy time for receivers to hut double moves and get open deep and to create a broader template of runs for power back Derrick Henry all change in the offense’s favor when operating under center, especially with a dynamic quarterback like Jackson.

“You want to be able to mix all those things,” Doyle explained, “and make the defense have to deal with a multiplicity of those sets as you can. He provides us a lot of value in his ability to go under center and run some of the offense that way.”

According to TruMedia, Jackson’s EPA (Expected Points Added) per dropback was an astounding 0.40 when under center last season, far and away best in the NFL. Second was Jared Goff (0.35) in Detroit, who was operating in the system devised by former Lions head coach Ben Johnson, who Doyle worked under last year with Johnson head coach in Chicago.

Hmm.

And Goff can’t move, while Jackson’s ability to also sell a keeper or an improve if the play breaks down leverages the defense in ways Goff could never imagine.

Other Changes In Store

Doyle is just mastering the art of constructing an offense himself for the first time and implementing it and installing it. We know he is also looking for Jokers – players who can fool a defense with their ability to man multiple positions – as Payton holds so dear, and that extends beyond just big bodies in the mold of a Taysom Hill or Jeremy Shockey, who embodied it when Payton and Doyle were in New Orleans.

Zay Flowers gave us a sense of that this week, explaining how much he is being moved around, and Doyle expanded on that Friday explaining “we’re asking our guys to do a lot of different things, and specifically his wide receivers.

“They’re running some routes that they might not run in the regular season if we don’t like how it looks,” Doyle said. "… You’re trying to make sure that they know the whole picture, and that you can move them around to these different spots so they learn the big-picture offense. That’s part of the installation phase.”

Jackson has mostly been on more plodding and methodical offenses, but that’s going to change, too. Payton’s offenses have routinely been in the top 10 in how quickly they snap the ball, the Bears were fifth-fastest in time of possession per play and Baltimore was tied for 30th.

“Those are stressors to the defense,” Doyle acknowledged, noting pushing pace is more effective against certain types of defenses than others. “And we want to be able to push the throttle and pull it back … Having all those elements of the offense, and working all those different things, is really critical right now.”

Doyle is also seeking more pre-snaps shifts and motions than we’ve seen in Baltimore. As for personnel trends too soon for even Doyle to know about such usage with so many rookies being counted on to contribute from the draft class and this a brand new offense for every player on the roster save for blocking tight end Durham Smythe.

“This is the proving ground,” Doyle said of camp.

Lamar’s Autonomy

Everyone is gushing about the opportunities for explosive plays and of course things look great in seven-on-seven situations, but this is going to be a learning curve for all involved. Doyle has to get an innate feel for his quarterback and vice versa.

How much Jackson can change and adjust at the line of scrimmage will vary by opponent and with how he masters the concepts. Doyle wants Jackson to take ownership and shape the offense as it best fits him over the course of the season. That part of the process is quite difficult to handicap in July.

“It changes play to play,” Doyle said. “There are different areas of the field where he might have a lot more freedom because of what we’re expecting from a defense … As he starts to master this system, then you can put more and more on him.”

Regardless, we can guarantee at this point that Jackson will be doing it more often from under center than ever before.

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