Sean Payton Believes Protege Declan Doyle Will Excel Calling Plays For Ravens Where Others Have Struggled

The Sean Payton family tree has failed to sprout the kind of accomplished playcallers one might expect for such an innovative offensive coach who has been winning games as a head coach as long as he has with so many disciples on his staff along the way.

It’s not a fact that’s lost on him, as several of his assistants who were tabbed as potential star coordinators and head coaches themselves, like Joe Lombardi (now on the Ravens staff) or Pete Carmichael, Jr. ended up quickly back with Payton after short stints trying to run their offenses elsewhere. And of course, there is a natural inclination for Payton to want to see that change over time and to endorse his proteges.

But Payton is also not much for BS. He isn’t one to throw around false platitudes, and the degree of confidence he had that longtime assistant Declan Doyle would be one the few to break that trend was noteworthy. Payton spoke at length about what he believes are separating characteristics for Doyle at length on “The Daily Flock Show” recently, and was quite convincing that Doyle might have more in common with say, Bills rookie head coach Joe Brady (a Payton creation who thrived as play caller in Buffalo before his promotion) than some of those who failed to pan out.

Payton could see Doyle absorbing his offense in real time and eventually being willing to add to it and make significant suggestions. And also observe him building bonds with players, which will be foundation as two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson launches into a totally different offensive system for the first time in his career (Todd Monken kept a lot of Greg Roman’s elements in place when he took over as coordinator three years ago).

“One of his great strengths were these pauses and his interjections,” Payton told me, “or his questions always came at the right rime. His timing instinct is rare relative to the room. He’s fantastic at reading the room.

“You felt a much more mature coach than whatever the age was or experience was that were getting. And he was, man, fully embedded into what we were doing and his football IQ was fantastic.”

But Can He Call Plays?

The great unknown, of course, and great differentiator, is the ability to lead an offense on your own and be the primary voice and call all the plays and make real-time adjustments as the game is playing out and jobs and seasons are on the line. There is no incubator for that and it’s been a problem for many in this family tree (last year in Detroit two of Payton’s former assistants, Johnny Morton and Dan Campbell, both tried to replace Ben Johnson, who left to be Bears head coach (where Doyle spent the 2025 season).

Doyle would make his own call sheets in Chicago and practice his own 15-play scripts to start games and try coaching along with Johnson, but that’s clearly not the same. It’s one of the biggest questions hanging over this entire Ravens operation. Payton believes Doyle is better positioned than some of those others because of the cast around him and how strong of an organization the Ravens have (I’d point out Lombardi got to work with Justin Herbert and peak Matthew Stafford and couldn’t last more than two years with the Chargers or Lions).

“First off, it’s finding the right fit,” Payton said.” Our league has seen a lot of extremely talented maybe get their first opportunity and maybe it isn’t a great scenario to be successful. But I do think there is a timing element and I think you mentioned Peter and Joe and those are guys who have been with me a long time and Dan Campbell – right timing, right place – but that’s a little different than the topic of play caller.

"But I’m buying Declan Doyle stock. I’m buying it hard because I do think he’s going to do a great job of communicating and building that relationship with Lamar and then how that offense moves … I think he’ll do a great job of getting that buy in. And I think that’s most important. So I’m anxious to see myself and watch those guys progress through the season.”

For all of the Ravens players throwing around the G word (genius) during OTAs, spring football is a very different thing entirely than training camp. And the regular season is yet another jump.

There is going to be a learning curve and this offense will take time to gel; Jesse Minter’s defense is going to have to be ready from Week 1 (much more continuity of scheme and personnel over there).

Payton was adamant that Doyle is ready for the job. We wouldn’t expect him to say anything less, but how he said it was fairly captivating and convincing.

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