Ravens Rookie Head Coach Jesse Minter Likely To Skew Conservative On 4th Down

Minter said he won't view the scenarios from a defensive perspective, but that is his side of the ball and he's the product of a very-conservative coaching family tree

Jan 29, 2026; Owings Mills, MD, USA; Jesse Minter smiling at press conference at Under Armour Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Lexi Thompson-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Ravens went from a new-school, aggressive program on fourth-down to one stuck in the past under John Harbaugh.

A decade ago, he was a bit of a rebel with a sympathetic ear to the advanced analytics crowd and earned a reputation for considering fourth down in some non-traditional ways, when needing more yardage that you might expect and going for it on areas of the field that wouldn’t be the norm. That changed in a big way during his final, underwhelming years in Baltimore, and the new boss is much more of an open book.

Jesse Minter is a rookie head coach, who was a very young assistant under Harbaugh here and then spent the rest of his career with Harbaugh’s brother, Jim, as conservative as they come (at Michigan and then the Chargers). And Minter’s closest NFL head coaching buddy, and the guy who his defense and mindset is most patterned after – Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald (another former Ravens assistant) – is even more of a staunch punt proponent than either Harbaugh brother (and he too coached under both).

In case you were wondering, the offensive coordinator is even younger and far less experienced than Minter, with Declan Doyle just turning 30 and spending the bulk of his career on the staff of Sean Payton, who is decidedly TEAM PUNT also. Minter said after Thursday’s practice that his philosophies on fourth down will evolve and every case will be different – Doyle, by no means the deciding voice, sounded similar on the topic – and it’s one of many new horizons for this latest chapter of Ravens football.

 “Both sides of the ball will inform those decisions on how the game is going and how we’re playing,” Minter explained after the final practice of the week Thursday. “If we’re smoking on defense and we can pan pin them back inside the 5, sometimes that’s a real weapon. If we’re rolling on defense and we’ve got (running back) Derrick (Henry) rolling downhill, obviously some of those you can go - you can put the ball in the best quarterback in the world’s hands and see what happens. So there’s a lot of scenarios, and with a young punter, sometimes, let’s see what he can do. So all those things go into that.”

I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sound like a guy who is gonzo to really empower his two-time MVP and go for it as much as anyone in NFL. I’d be quite surprised if that’s how this played out, even if Henry and Lamar are firing away. Minter didn’t want to make it about the fact that he’s a defensive-minded coach, but he is, you cannot escape that, and you can’t escape his past, either.

Punting Comes Easy

The Ravens defense has better personnel and a proven playcaller running it and more continuity and Minter’s scheme is very similar to what Macdonald just ran here a few years ago. The offense is entirely foreign to everyone, and Doyle has never done this job before in any real capacity let alone call plays. The defense must lead the way early, Minter is going to skew conservative and it just might stay that way.

And if he does, it’s “not because I’m a defensive coach,” Minter said in what sounded a little like a warning. But rather based on “how the offense and defense are playing in those exact moments.”

We’re all products of our mentors and environments and NFL coaches are especially so. It’s literally what gets them hired in many cases. Here’s what Minter’s mentors (and Doyle’s) tend to do in these situations:

John Harbaugh went for it on fourth down just 25 times with the Ravens last season; the league average was 28. Over the past three years, Harbaugh went for it just 54 times, third fewest in the NFL. From 2019-2022, Harbaugh went for it 90 times, 12th most in the NFL.

Jim Harbaugh went for it just 37 times during his two years back in the NFL (with Minter his defensive coordinator), tied for second fewest in the NFL. And, as you might have surmised (or if you read our preview of this back in the spring) only Macdonald went for it less (31 times) trusting his defense immensely even with eventual Super Bowl MVP Sam Darnold as his QB last season.

And as for Doyle, Payton, since returning to the NFL in Denver three years ago, has gone for it just 42 times, the 10th fewest times in the NFL in that span. He’s an aggressive play caller and his on-side kick decision to open the second half of a Super Bowl is one of the ballsiest and most effective coaching moves in the history of the game, but that hasn’t extended as much to fourth down.

Preseason is a bit of a dress rehearsal for the new staff’s process in making these decisions, but without key players taking part and with the results not mattering, it’s hardly a substitute for the real thing. It is a steady topic of discussion for Minter and his top assistants, including defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and game-management coordinator Charlie Gelman.

“We have spent quite a bit of time meeting, with Jesse, myself, Charlie, Weave — going through some of these situations,” Doyle said this week, “talking about our decision-making. That changes week to week with the kicker, with the weather, with the defense, the offense, whatever.

“I am a part of that, in that I am calling the game and on second down I need to know whether I have a couple downs here or just one. That's the biggest part of it. I am reacting in a lot of ways because it's the head coach's decision.”

Especially early on, don’t be surprised if those decisions lean a particular way. Even with a rookie punter.

Subscribe To "The Daily Flock" On YouTube For No BS Ravens Coverage