Former Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees is returning to Baltimore as a senior advisor to current defensive coordinator Zach Orr, according to Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic.
“He’s a guy who knows me as a person, knows the system, knows the culture here,” Orr said. “He’s a Raven.”
Orr told Zrebiec that he stayed in contact through the season and recently reached out to bring on his former coach in an advisory role. “Ultimately, all I care about is us performing the best we can to help us win,” Orr continued.
Pees will enter a unique situation in which he advises a defensive coordinator he used to oversee as a player. Pees was Baltimore’s defensive coordinator when Orr signed with the Ravens as an undrafted rookie in 2014. Pees coached Orr to a second-team All-Pro selection in 2016 before a congenital spine condition forced the linebacker to retire.
Now, Pees will take on an advisory role to his former player, who has fielded the league’s best rushing defense while allowing the second-most passing yards of any defense. The Ravens are coming off a Week 5 shootout in which the defense was torched by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins to the tune of 392 passing yards and five touchdowns.
Pees has coached in the NFL for 18 years, starting as linebackers coach under Bill Belichick in New England in 2004. John Harbaugh then hired Pees for the same role in Baltimore before promoting him to defensive coordinator in 2012. Pees led the defense to a Super Bowl victory in his first year calling plays and remained with the Ravens until his retirement in January 2018.
Pees’ retirement lasted just 28 days before he was hired by the Titans as defensive coordinator under Mike Vrabel, a position he held for two years before his second retirement in January 2020. This time, Pees stayed away from the NFL for a year before taking the Falcons’ defensive coordinator position under Arthur Smith. He then retired for the third time in January 2023, but could not turn down the opportunity to return to Baltimore, reunite with Orr, and help coach the Ravens’ talented defense.
Nifty. Ravens FO thinking on their feet, again!