Ravens On SI Staff Breaks Down Jesse Minter Hire

Jeremy Brener

The Ravens' decision to go with Minter is very telling on how the franchise feels about the culture Harbaugh brought. Ultimately, Harbaugh was let go because it was time to bring in a fresh voice, not because what he was saying was counterproductive but rather because the team needs a different energy.

Enter Minter, who is a disciple of the Harbaugh coaching tree and has experience leading a high-level defense. The Ravens will always be set with Lamar Jackson under center on the offensive side of the ball and Derrick Henry pounding the rock, so getting an elite defensive coach on staff should make the team more complete.

Minter led one of the best defensive units in the league last season with the Chargers, so he can now attempt to do the same with the Ravens in hopes of returning to the playoffs.

Josh Reed

I couldn’t be more ecstatic about the Ravens going with a defensive-minded candidate to be the fourth head coach in franchise history, and I wholeheartedly believe he can lead them to their third-ever Super Bowl title and then some.

As tantalizing as pairing a young offensive wunderkind with Lamar Jackson sounds, defense closes out games and ultimately wins championships. Minter took almost the exact same path to this job that former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald did to the Seattle Seahawks.

He came up through the professional coaching ranks in Baltimore, got his first shot at calling plays in college at multiple stops, became the orchestrator of an elite and innovative defense during his two years as defensive coordinator under one of the Harbaugh brothers, and was one of the hottest names on the market during this coaching cycle.

He is exactly the kind of X’s and O’s expert the Ravens said they were looking for and is already familiar with the organization, players, and community, having previously been here. It’s time for this team to get back to playing elite defense, and Minter is the coach who can usher in that era of dominance on that side of the ball in Baltimore once again.

It’ll be interesting to see who his choice for offensive coordinator winds up being. My preference would be to either promote quarterbacks’ coach Tee Martin or hire one of Joe Brady, Kliff Kingsbury, Nathan Scheelhaase or Davis Webb.