The Baltimore Ravens hired Jesse Minter to replace John Harbaugh as their head coach, and at first glance, it's hard to find fault in this decision. Sure, Minter has no head coaching experience, but he's been one of the league's best defensive coordinators in the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, so there's reason to believe he can help fix the Ravens' defense after a disastrous year, particularly on that end of the field.
He even has a connection to the organization, as he worked for several years as an assistant early in his coaching career under John Harbaugh, and he was Jim Harbaugh's defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan and with the Chargers. He has connections to both Harbaugh brothers and the Ravens organization, so why couldn't this work out? Well, the familiarity might be the problem.
Jesse Minter might be too familiar for Lamar Jackson
To be clear, Minter has the tools to be an excellent head coach. He was highly coveted in this year's head coaching cycle for a reason. He's learned from two of the game's best head coaches, and he's led some fantastic defenses in Los Angeles the past two seasons. The Ravens' defense needs improvement, and Minter should help a ton. We've seen how a head coach who was in a familiar spot a couple of years ago, Mike Macdonald, has done with the Seattle Seahawks after thriving as the Ravens' defensive coordinator. Still, it's hard to shake the familiarity aspect of this hire.
At a certain point, change becomes a necessity. John Harbaugh is one of the best head coaches in the NFL, but after several years of coming up short, it made a lot of sense for the Ravens to move on and try to find a new voice. I mean, he was their head coach for 18 (!) years. He was fired because the Ravens wanted a new voice, not because he wasn't a good coach. Is Minter different enough?
I'm not saying he's a Harbaugh clone, but going from a Harbaugh to a member of the Harbaugh tree is a bit bizarre after the Ravens saying they needed to shift away from John Harbaugh. Is going from a Harbaugh to a Harbaugh assistant really going to be what gets Lamar Jackson over the hump?
It could very well work, but Minter is going to have to do something different to ensure change is actually made in Baltimore.
Jesse Minter must prioritze an outside hire to fill offensive coordinator void
He might be too familiar, but at the end of the day, much of Minter's attention will be on the defense, which has nothing to do with Jackson. This means he must hire the right offensive coordinator to not only get the most out of Jackson, but to change things up. An outside hire is the way to do that.
This means that no matter how tempting they might be, guys like Todd Monken and Greg Roman should not be considered. Whether it's Kliff Kingsbury, Joe Brady, Matt Nagy, or someone else, the Ravens must get a new voice in Jackson's ear to get the most out of him.
If the Ravens go with a familiar hire at offensive coordinator, they're practically running back a coaching staff that has proven inadequate. Even with the new head coach in place, having the same coordinators means there wouldn't be enough of a change.
With Jackson under contract, the Ravens are in their Super Bowl window right now. I can only begin to understand the Minter hire if they stray away from what hasn't worked at the coordinator position. Ravens fans can only hope Minter does the right thing.
More NFL news and analysis: