Ravens' Zach Orr Has HC Potential

Zach Orr didn't exactly begin his tenure as the Baltimore Ravens' defensive coordinator the way he hoped he would, but his growth throughout the season was incredibly impressive.

There's no way to sugarcoat it, the Ravens' defense was awful in the first half of the season. They were allowing nearly 300 passing yards per game and were on pace to become one of the worst pass defenses of the pass decade, until they flipped a switch.

From Week 11 onward, the Ravens only allowed more than 250 passing yards once in nine games (including two playoff games) and played like one of the best defenses in the league. Some of that improvement was due to personnel changes, most notably Ar'Darius Washington starting at safety, but Orr's adjustments were key to the turnaround as well.

Now, Orr's adjustments may have put him on the head coaching radar. On the Mina Kimes Show, ESPN's Mina Kimes named the 33-year-old Orr as a coordinator who has what it takes to be a future head coach.

"I thought the turnaround of the Ravens' defense last season was really impressive," Kimes said. "I think they're going to be really good again. I think he's going to get a lot of credit for it. When [former defensive coordinator and current Seattle Seahawks head coach] Mike Macdonald left and their staff was pillaged essentially, he was the guy that [head coach John] Harbaugh believed in, that they chose to be the defensive coordinator, and I think that speaks to not only his ability, but also how he is regarded in the building, his personality. He just seems like a rising star to me."

ESPN's Mike Golic Jr., Kimes' guest on the show, echoed a similar sentiment.

"To watch him adjust and respond in real time last year in a situation where a lot's expected of you – you don't just get to go work in the dark and hone your craft at a place where there's no stakes and nobody cares here – is a really impressive testament to a bunch of between-the-ears stuff that shows your ability to go and transfer that as a head coach when you're doing something for the first time again," Golic said.

Orr is still young and relatively inexperienced, so it could be a couple years until he starts seriously getting looks as a head coach. If he continues to coach the way he did in the second half of last season, though, those opportunities will come in droves.