Ravens Might Have Next Home Run Hire With Jesse Minter

Two years ago, the Baltimore Ravens watched one of their most valued assistant coaches depart Charm City for the Emerald City in the Pacific Northwest after they lost in their first AFC championship appearance in over a decade.

That coach was defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who, in just two years as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, has led the team to back-to-back seasons of 10-plus wins thanks to a dominant defense that he has been the orchestrator and play-caller of, as well as an explosive and balanced offense.

Following a disastrous 2025 campaign in which they entered the season as favorites to make the Super Bowl and missed out on the postseason entirely, they have to watch the young defensive wunderkind, who was groomed and molded by them, that many fans wanted to be the successor to long-time head coach John Harbaugh, potentially win a title for another franchise.

As bittersweet as watching Macdonald's success in Seattle has been for the Ravens and the Flock faithful this year, the organization has charted a new course with a familiar face at the helm of the team after hiring former defensive assistant Jesse Minter as the fourth head coach in franchise history.

Ravens could reach similar heights in half the time

Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald speaks on the podium after defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship. — Jan 25, 2026; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald speaks on the podium after defeating the Los Angeles Rams in the 2026 NFC Championship Game at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

While the parallels between Minter and Macdonald's path to becoming head coaches mirror one another, they aren't perfectly symmetrical. Both are renowned as young defensive geniuses with brilliant and innovative minds for the game, whose time in Baltimore on Harbaugh's staff overlapped from 2017-2020.

However, Minter is even more seasoned than Macdonald when it comes to years spent in the realm of coaching and play-calling on defense. Both coaches left the Ravens to become defensive coordinators in college in 2021, with Macdonald joining Jim Harbaugh in Michigan as a first-time play-caller.

Minter served in the same role at Vanderbilt before replacing Macdonald in Ann Arbor with the Wolverines for two years, but neither was his first time holding the position. He had two different four-year stints as a play-caller in college before initially coming to the NFL with the Ravens. From 2009-2012, he called the defense at Indiana State and followed that up by doing the same at Georgia State from 2013-2016.

It was Minter who didn't just pick up where Macdonald left off at Michigan but elevated the Wolverines' defense to even greater heights that culminated in winning a national title in 2023 before following the younger Harbaugh brother back to the NFL. From there, he served as a defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers for the past two years, terraforming it into one of the more dynamic, disciplined and ferocious elite units in the league despite not having a wealth of star talent.

With the Ravens, Minter doesn't just have many of the requisite pieces already on the roster and resources to make the defense a feared and respected strength again, but he also has a two-time league MVP quarterback still in his prime with Lamar Jackson. That's a recipe for not only a swift rebound but a rapid ascension in the upper echelon of legit Super Bowl contenders as soon as 2026 instead of needing a year to establish a winning culture and finding the right offensive play-caller like Macdonald did.

Minter is already putting together an impressive staff

Although he never called plays on either side of the ball during his 18 years on the job, one of John Harbaugh's best traits as a coach is finding and hiring other good coaches to serve as his assistants, advisors and coordinators. He was able to have the Ravens adapt with the times in all three phases as the league shifted over the years to maintain their perennial title contender status.

Having a keen eye for rising and under-appreciated talent in the coaching ranks is clearly an ability that Minter picked up or just has in common with his predecessor, because some of his reported hires and targets for key assistant roles have already been receiving rave reviews from fans and pundits alike.

One of the first hires that Minter is reportedly slated to make is of University of Notre Dame defensive backs coach Mike Mickens as the Ravens' defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach. Mickens is a former protégée of his, whom he once coached to a pair of All-American bids as a player at the University of Cincinnati. It's a hire of one of the brightest minds in college football, who many believe was destined to make it to the NFL, is a great inspired move.

Notre Dame cornerbacks coach Mike Mickens gives direction to senior cornerback Cam Hart (5) as freshman Christian Gray (29) and others look on during Notre Dame football fall camp Thursday, July 27, 2023, at the LaBar Practice Complex in South Bend. | Greg Swiercz / USA TODAY NETWORK

Former Atlanta Falcons offensive line coach and offensive run game coordinator Dwayne Ledford is expected to replace George Warhop on Minter's staff, potentially in both roles. Under his stewardship, the Falcons had one of the best run-blocking and pass-blocking offensive lines for nearly half a decade.

Arguably, the most important hire to his staff that Minter is going to make is at offensive coordinator, as that person will be charged with putting Jackson and the rest of the Ravens' talented offense in positions to be successful and score points. Popular candidates Kliff Kingsbury and Joe Brady remain in the running for the job, as well as some of the remaining head coach openings.

The net Minter is casting recently widened to include Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and Detroit Lions wide receivers coach and assistant head coach, Scottie Montgomery. Both interview requests show that he is interested in the type of offensive scheme that current Bears head coach and former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson runs, which has produced passing and rushing attacks that are not just prolific but extremely detail-oriented and creative when it comes to scheming up unique ways to get the ball in the hands of explosive playmakers in space while staying balanced.

Despite the fact that he is still in the midst of uprooting his family and whole life to move back across the country, the early returns and perceived vision of the Minter era are not just encouraging, but exciting as well. They show he is the bright forward thinker he is being billed as by his former players, colleagues and even media members who have had brief interactions with him over the years.

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