Durham Smythe Is The Only Raven Who Has Worked With Their Rookie Offensive Coordinator. He's A Big Fan

One of the more fascinating aspects of the Ravens hiring a then-29-year-old who had never called a play to run their new offense is the fact he also isn’t seeing many familiar faces on the roster or coaching staff.

There is nary an assistant coach or a player on the roster with serious ties to Declan Doyle or his primary mentor, Broncos coach Sean Payton. In a situation like this, with so much new and so much new for Doyle, you’d think there might be more coaches on the staff with deep ties to Payton (Joe Lomardi is one of them). And if not key veterans who were with Doyle in Chicago last season, then several who at least were stalwarts at some point for Payton (who Doyle was with in New Orleans and Denver).

Nope.

Just blocking tight end Durham Smythe, who will likely prove to be a sage signing and real factor in a multiple and diverse run game that will be under center more than we’ve ever seen during quarterback Lamar Jackson’s tenure here . We believe Smythe has plenty to offer in that regard and is a great value (think of a mauler in the vein of Nick Boyle).

But we’re not talking someone who is going to be on the field all the time and not exactly playing a position where his mastery of Doyle’s nascent scheme if going to be readily amplified Heck, most of the tight end room is compromised of guys who even the Ravens aren’t sure can play in the league yet.

This isn’t like a center or a No. 1 wide receiver. Regardless, based on one year with the Bears in which Doyle wasn’t even really the offensive coordinator (he didn’t call plays), Smythe is the resident Doyle expert for now.

“He’s built for this,” Smythe said of Doyle after Tuesday’s practice. “Obviously, he's risen pretty quickly in this field, but it's deserving. You could see that last year — obviously [Chicago Bears head coach] Ben [Johnson] is calling the plays, but Declan is right there knowing what to do.

“He could have called plays if he needed to. He's built for this. He's been around some great offensive minds in the last decade, and now he's kind of making all of those his own thing. It's pretty exciting, and I'm excited to work with him."

Doyle is bringing quite a bit of what Payton believes in most, as the Broncos coach explained to us in depth on “The Daily Flock Show” last month. He will take early-down deep shots out of play action, believes deeply in selling play action under center and operating the quarterback in those traditional five-and-seven-step drops, with “Joker” body types toggling between positions.

Smythe is an old-school impact player at the line of scrimmage and won’t be targeted much. But with Doyle asking so many players to try to operate from multiple positions during this install, his depth of understanding about those concepts is invaluable; again, it’s surprising there aren’t a few more like him sprinkled across various position groups.

"I think the way this offense is taught,” Smythe said, “whether it be last year in Chicago or this year here — you kind of want to stress the players as much as possible, as fast as possible. So, at the beginning of teaching things, it can be a little rough because there's so much information thrown at you at once.

“But, I think over the longevity of the season — which you kind of saw with us last year in Chicago — we started a little slow and then everything caught on at once. Obviously, we're in a race to master it faster than that … There's a lot to work on in that regard, but we're definitely in a race over the next three weeks."

Smythe could be a resource for the offensive linemen, too, with pre-snap penalties and out-of-sync linemen a major issue with the Bears last season into about the midpoint of the season. That’s something Doyle wants to avoid if possible. Easier said than done and especially with the backups playing so much in the upcoming preseason games, the flags are going to fly.

Perhaps during the flurry of roster transactions that come around final roster cuts to 53 more players with past ties to the system will show up on the roster. For now, Smythe pretty much stands alone

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