The Ravens Shunned Experienced Coaches After Firing John Harbaugh. So Far, That Looks Regrettable

The Ravens ran a funky head coaching search.

They gave a nominal look at former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, a two-time coach of the year, but people close to that coach all along felt like Baltimore wasn’t really interested and he quickly ended up in Atlanta. After general manager Eric DeCosta won the power struggle with potential Hall of Fame head coach John Harbaugh following a terrible 2025 season, the NFL believed Baltimore wanted a young guy.

Owner Steve Bisciotti defended DeCosta’s personnel record to a ridiculous level (“he’s batting .800”) and made a point of letting his fans know DeCosta and team president Sashi Brown had wide swath over the coaching search. The Lombardi Trophy expectations were still the same (“pursuing championships,” Brown said) but they seemed to wanted a guy with roots in their building all along. Even when Buffalo surprisingly fired Sean McDermott – who had won at least one playoff game five straight years – Baltimore made no effort whatsoever to even reach out.

“Not a phone call – nothing,” said one league source with direct knowledge of the situation.

It was going to be Minter and it was Minter – seen as a product of their front office and “winning culture” from his days as a young assistant in Baltimore. The question always lingered around the NFL – was that the right dynamic? Should they really have one of only two staffs in the entire league without a former NFL head coach on it? And with Harbaugh clearly making a push for NFL Coach of the Year with the Giants (5-2-1 in first place)– a team short on proven starpower and one of the youngest teams in the NFL – execs around the NFL are talking about Baltimore’s lack of direction.

If the team had the alleged roster DeCosta thought it did – with two-time MVP Lamar Jackson having total leverage over the team in 2027) would a bunch of novice head coaches be able to get them to click immediately, and take them beyond where Harbaugh could? Shouldn’t experience have been more the rule, if not for the head coach than for the bulk of his staff? Did Brown and DeCosta prize consolidation of power and lack of pushback from first-time coaches over truly trying to seek the best and brightest available to get the team over the top?

With the Ravens likely already having played their last truly meaningful game of the season already and a season spiraling wildly out of control, doing things on offense and defense that are unprecedented in franchise history (in the worst way possible), it’s a disaster. There is a cogent case to be made that DeCosta should have been fired after offensive-line debacle he authored in Buffalo in Week 7.

It would be a surprise if the Ravens (4-5) did the right thing and sold at the trade deadline and it would be even more surprising (with two AFC wins against teams that have three total wins between them) if they salvaged this season. And there is a growing sense that the profile of this staff does not mesh with what was an overwhelmingly veteran roster (in fact, too old and too overpaid at too many key starting spots).

One NFL GM told me over the summer: “Older team, heavy expectations, really young staff. That’s a weird mix.”

Some Dynamics Make More Sense Than Others

Oct 25, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh reacts after defeating the Houston Texans in overtime at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

I’ve heard variations of this from several people around the NFL I’ve probed about the Ravens in recent weeks. And it makes total sense, and, frankly, made total sense all along.

“Look, that’s an older team, a team that can’t get over the hump, a lot of guys who are in their last year there,” said one longtime NFL personnel executive who has watched the Giants and Ravens closely, among others. “They are used to being coached by experienced coaches, and doing things a certain way.

“You bring in a bunch of young guys, a lot of them have never done it before, you set yourself up for problems. You bring in a bunch of college coaches – that’s not the same thing. Those guys are recruiting, there is so much they do … it’s just not the same thing as what goes on in the NFL. The players see everything. They are going to get away with as much as they can, and that’s what you’re seeing out there …

“You’re seeing it, really, on defense more than anywhere else, and trust me, that’s a big problem in that building right now. They all see the same thing we do. That’s Jesse Minter’s side of the ball. And then look at New York. Total opposite.

“They have a young team, bunch of college kids, don’t know how to win yet. They got a guy who is super experienced and knows how to win. They know the kind of staff he’s going to bring, and the young players see that. That defense is overachieving. It’s the opposite of Baltimore. They’ve got big problems. The film is bad.”

Another NFL GM told me: “A lot of us were saying it when they set up the interviews. Minter was their guy. DeCosta wanted young guys he could control. Now they have to try to fix it.”

Minter is going to have to learn to juggle running a defense and coaching the entire football team at the same time. Declan Doyle still doesn’t even know here he should be calling plays from (try it from the sidelines, rook). The choking that began under Harbaugh immediately met new lows under this staff.

We’ll never know what might have been with a staff led be proven winners. That’s never where this was going. But there is no denying the impact Harbaugh immediately made with the Giants, and no denying just how massive Minter’s learning curve has proven to be.

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