Declan Doyle Reveals Priorities in Building Ravens Offense

Doyle's Principles

It helps that he's entering Baltimore knowing exactly what he wants out of his offense, even if the pieces that he'll have to work with remain up in the air as free agency and the NFL Draft provide more clarity to his roster later down the line.

He's talked at length about his prioritization of deception and big play hunting from his one-and-done stint with the Chicago Bears, elements that helped push his former team to the NFC Divisional Round amidst their own meteoric rise, and his core tenets are meant to help establish such high-level execution.

"The way we want our offense to look, the non-negotiables, are that we are physical, we're detailed and we're explosive," he elaborated. "Certainly, in 2024, this offense was something to be reckoned with, and something that we're actively chasing to get back to.

"When I talk about physicality, it's those guys on the perimeter being willing to block, our guys up front, coming off the ball and really trying to impose their will on the defense...us being detailed across the board, whether that is in the passing game, the route detail, the quarterback's footwork, his eyes, or how all of our jobs fit together in the run game. And the explosive piece is partly-players, part-coaching, really chasing explosive plays in the game-plan process, trying to stretch defenses."

At least, that's the pitch he made to Minter, and to his credit, such values were present in the 2025 Bears. He's already made it a point to touch base with Jackson, who has plenty of reasons to remain interested in the franchise's direction between his tough experience over the recent season and his looming contract extension talks, and by Doyle's account, the excitement to get to work is mutual.

"I was able to speak to him a few times, one of them was in the interview process," Doyle revealed. "I was able to sit with him for over an hour on a Zoom call...[went] through his time in the past year, what his vision is for what he needs to be able to operate at the highest level, and I really wanted to see if we were compatible and if that was a fit, trying to figure out what the coaching structure's gonna look like in that way."

Jackson could have issued a series of complaints about his last roster's structure and utilization, with his shoddy protection, lack of consistent weapons and the odd misusage of star running back Derrick Henry each sticking out over the course of a deeply-disappointing 2025 campaign. Those needs, along with Baltimore's having to get on the same page with Jackson over the short- and long-term, have each already been highlighted to start the offseason, and judging by Doyle's introduction, he has a strong idea as to how to help the Ravens avoid their growingly-familiar mistakes.