The Ravens have not seen a coordinator leave for a head coaching job since 2015, when one-year offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak left for the Broncos. Kubiak was not on the radar anywhere else that offseason. Sitting 9-3 after its bye week, Baltimore may see multiple teams reach out to both its current coordinators about HC interviews in 2024.
John Harbaugh just assembled his Todd Monken–Mike Macdonald coordinator combo, though the latter arrived last year. Staffers surveyed around the league, however, expect the Ravens to see both end up on next year’s HC carousel, Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post notes. A few execs went further, suggesting Harbaugh will need to hire two new coordinators next year.
Monken, 57, re-emerged from the college ranks this offseason, coming back to the NFL after helping Georgia win two national championships as OC. Although Lamar Jackson sits 13th in QBR, the Ravens have zoomed to 9-3 and withstood the J.K. Dobbins loss while seeing a few offensive linemen miss time. They will face a challenge moving forward, with Mark Andrews out of the equation — though, Harbaugh is not shutting down the notion the Pro Bowl tight end can come back deep into the playoffs — but the Monken hire has turned out well in Year 1.
Although Monken had been off the NFL radar for a bit, he has previously interviewed for HC positions. The Jets and Packers interviewed Monken for their HC positions in 2019. Before Baltimore, Monken had served as OC with Tampa Bay and Cleveland. The Browns stint went poorly, with Freddie Kitchens becoming a one-and-done after being unready for an HC post, and Monken returned to the college game. After the Georgia success, Monken’s Ravens offense ranks fifth in DVOA and seventh in scoring. With offensive coaches holding the upper hand on their defensive counterparts in terms of HC rises, Monken stands to be a name to watch soon.
As the Ravens have shifted away — to a degree, at least — from Greg Roman run-oriented attack, they have taken steps forward on defense as well. Macdonald rejoined Baltimore’s staff last year, replacing Don Martindale after a one-season stint under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. The Ravens had previously groomed Macdonald, 36, by bringing him up through their coaching ranks. Macdonald was on Baltimore’s staff from 2014-20. He has not been in the mix for any HC posts previously, but that figures to change in 2024.
The Ravens’ defense leads the league in DVOA and scoring. They have gotten by with Marlon Humphrey missing six games. Last year’s Roquan Smith trade has proven tremendously beneficial, and the team has coaxed quality production from late free agency pickups Jadeveon Clowney and Kyle Van Noy. Clowney did not sign until August 18, and the team did not add Van Noy until Sept. 26. Both have played key roles as edge rushers, combining for 13.5 sacks and 24 QB hits. Justin Madubuike is putting together a career year, leading the Ravens with 10 sacks and raising his free agency stock in the process.
Harbaugh’s 15 previous seasons in Baltimore have produced four coordinator-to-HC jumps, though Martindale and Roman both received interviews. Rex Ryan, who was in place as the Ravens’ DC before Harbaugh’s arrival, left for the Jets in 2009. His successor, Chuck Pagano, left for the Colts’ HC job in 2012. The Lions hired Ravens OC Jim Caldwell in 2014. Teams cannot begin interviewing candidates currently on NFL staffs until after the divisional round this year, marking a change from previous offseasons.
So much desperation to find an HC that teams are going with the least experience possible.
Exact same problem with QB’s. We all know Fields will get paid, but why? Same thing happened last offseason with Dan Jones as an example.
Why? Because there are only 32 NFL starter jobs available in the world. Of that 32, a third of them are pretty marginal to bad, a third are at replacement level, and the other third are above that level to varying degrees. Fields, like him or not, is in that level. Yes, a lot of that is due to his legs, but yards are yards.
Fields is average at best. To me, average doesn’t equate to +$40m a year in salary. If you have an average QB, that’s fine; build around him. Only a small percent can ‘carry their team’ if you will. Otherwise is just waste of another year dreaming that an average QB will be better than that. Giants wasted this year for example.
As for the 32 starter jobs and your break down, I agree. 2/3 of the league QB’s are average eat best. Which is why I detest the idea of expansion. They talk about new division in Europe, whose going to fill out those 53 man rosters when there so many constantly bad teams right now?
Monken has a mixed history (as far as I can remember) as an offensive coach, so I think that I’d give it a bit to see if he’s head coach material.
Nowadays, though, teams are so fearful of missing out on a candidate that they’ll hire someone with only a year’s results to evaluate. Coaches get fired faster and hired sooner. Really, it would be nice to see consistency in a four year run at least, but things move so fast now in that regard that that is an eternity in today’s league. It’s really no surprise that most coaches only last about four years, and that more are fired much sooner than in past, when you see how little coordinator experience many of them when they take their first head coaching job.
That doesn’t mean that young or new coordinators are unsuitable, but it does seem to have an impact. Coordinators don’t have much incentive to stay in that capacity for very long, of course. I don’t think that you’ll see many more Monte Kiffins, who coordinate a defense for years and years, in today’s NFL.
Get the Frank Reich deal !