The Baltimore Ravens coaching staff underwent a massive brain drain on the defensive side of the ball during the offseason with three top assistants being poached for promotions with new teams.
Most notable of the departures was Mike Macdonald, who served as the team’s defensive coordinator for the past two seasons. He oversaw a record-setting top-ranked unit last season, which, along with his sharp mind, was why his services were in such high demand and ultimately led to him being hired to replace future Hall of Fame coach Pete Carroll as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
The defensive wunderkind wasn’t the only Ravens play caller and designer who was among a formidable candidate opposing teams came sniffing around. After bringing a level of balance and a more modern passing attack which the team had yet to have during the Lamar Jackson in just his first year at the helm, offensive coordinator Todd Monken interviewed and was in consideration for the head coaching vacancies of the Los Angeles Chargers and Carolina Panthers.
Thankfully, both teams went in different directions with Los Angeles hiring Jim Harbaugh—young brother of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh—and Carolina hired quarterback reclamation project specialist Dave Canales.
This meant the Ravens wouldn’t have to undergo what the 2022 Super Bowl runner-up Philadelphia Eagles went through last year when they had to replace both coordinators following a historically successful season for the franchise that ultimately fell short of glory.
However, if the franchise’s rich history of dominant defense has proved anything through the majority of its first quarter-plus century of existence, it’s that the Ravens’ line of succession when it comes to going from one defensive coordinator to another is as strong as and is more impressive than any in the league on either side of the ball.
From Marvin Lewis to Rex Ryan to Chuck Pagano to Dean Pees to Don ‘Wink’ Martindale and most recently Macdonald, the organization knows how to identify and groom the next in line at the defensive coordinator spot.
The same, however, can not be said for their history of developing or just hiring their counterpart on the offensive side of the ball. During Harbaugh’s tenure as the head, he had eight different offensive coordinators and it’s been a mixed bag of results at best with not nearly as much consistency or success as there has been on defense.
Cam Cameron had some nice success with young Joe Flacco before being replaced by Jim Caldwell during the 2012 Super Bowl-winning season and Greg Roman had some great years in the first few years of Jackson’s career including coaching him to a unanimous MVP honor. In the end, both were relieved of their duties and parted ways with the team because it was either time for a change or evolution.
What Monken was able to accomplish and the strides the overall offense made as a whole while still sticking to a run-first but not run-dominant approach was remarkable and should have pundits even more excited about what year two holds. Jackson is fresh off his second career MVP season and will have even more ownership of the offense moving forward which will more than likely lead to even greater success.
The only comparable playcaller who was able to achieve a similar level of modernization and balance between the run and the pass with Harbaugh before Monken was retired coach Gary Kubiak who guided Flacco to his best regular season in a Ravens uniform in 2014. Unfortunately, his tenure as the team’s offensive coordinator was short-lived as he was one-and-done in Baltimore and would go on to coach the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl triumph the following season in 2015.
These strong historical trends precedents suggest the retention of Monken at offensive coordinator will have more of an impact on the success of the 2024 Ravens than losing Macdonald to a head coaching job elsewhere.
It also should lend the doubters, detractors and skeptics to believe the promotion of first-time play caller Zach Orr to take over as defensive coordinator has the potential to be the next brilliant move in a long successful line of succession. The former Second Team All Pro turned coach already commands the respect of and has been getting rave reviews from his players about the job he has already been doing since his elevation in status and increase in responsibility.