Ravens' Jesse Minter Continues Building Case as Top HC Hire

The Baltimore Ravens' new head coach keeps on picking up steam as one of the most popular picks of the hiring cycle.

Jan 29, 2026; Owings Mills, MD, USA; Sashi Brown, Jesse Minter, and Eric DeCosta on the podium for press conference at Under Armour Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Lexi Thompson-Imagn Images | Lexi Thompson-Imagn Images

Just one week into the NFL's 2026 offseason, 10 different teams found themselves in the hunt for new head coaches. It made for a dramatic week of firings -- or in former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin's case, a surprise resignation -- and the Baltimore Ravens were not exempt from this wave, parting ways with longtime leader John Harbaugh after 18 years of fielding contenders.

The organization's chief decision makers would go on to spend the better part of two weeks poring through their options, interviewing any coordinator or coach with a hope of reinvigorating the defensive culture that they'd gradually wandered away from. Eventually, they handed one of the more desirable job openings to Jesse Minter, an experienced defensive specialist with a strong resume that included notable coordinating stints as well as a previous stop in Baltimore.

He has big shoes to fill in stepping back into a historic franchise that's only ever known three total head coaches, and it's already appearing as if Baltimore's suits weren't the only figures who were impressed with Minter's profile and potential. He's already getting rated as one of the savvier pickups of the hiring cycle, with some evaluators considering him the steal of the bunch.

"Jesse Minter is probably the cleanest fit out of all of them, the closeness to the scheme," one anonymous executive told The Athletic's Jeff Howe. "It feels like they went for a younger version of the coach they had, a mix of John Harbaugh and (former Ravens defensive coordinator and current Super Bowl champion) Mike Macdonald. Jesse is a stud. They were able to rewind it in a very seamless way. They're minimizing the transition. That's a really important thing to do when you're making a hire. That's an easy one."

Feb 8, 2026; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald celebrates with the Vince Lombardi trophy on the podium after defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Minter's Likeable Traits

Any comparison to Macdonald will gain popularity entering the long offseason, with the former Ravens DC set to spend the summer atop the NFL after commanding a Lombardi-winning defense two years after walking away from Baltimore.

And it's not hard to spot the similarities between he and Minter; the self-professed friends crossed paths with the squad on the defensive staff, and while Macdonald controlled the Michigan Wolverines for one standalone stint in 2021 before returning to Baltimore, Minter took over the NCAA machine for the following two seasons in preparation for two more years spent with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Now, two years after Macdonald took his first NFL job away from Harbaugh, Minter is set to take over where his former boss left off. The Ravens are starting over with a fresh coaching staff using Minter's vision, as he'll call the defensive plays amidst an attempt to flip the former contenders into challengers for the reigning champion Seahawks.

Every other franchise with a vacant head coach opening has found a new figurehead to be happy with, and no one, including Harbaugh at his new home with the New York Giants, is winning anything quite like Minter's early approval.