The Baltimore Ravens' decision to fire John Harbaugh this offseason was somewhat polarizing. Not in the eyes of the fanbase, nearly every fan will tell you that it was a necessity. However, the organization caught some flak from the media.
The hiring of Jesse Minter quickly changed people’s minds about the outlook of Baltimore’s future. It’s clear there’s a lot of excitement heading into 2026 due to Minter’s defensive expertise and his recent rise in coaching. Now, Zay Flowers has added a bit more weight to why firing Harbaugh was the right decision.
On Thursday, Flowers made an appearance on the 4th and Short Podcast with former NFL players Jarvis Landry and Leonard Fournette. Though he clearly has a lot of respect for Harbaugh, he had a lot to say about Harbaugh’s practice tendencies.
“We had a lot of injuries because of how we practiced,” Flowers said. “[I’m cold tubbing] every day. I’m cold tubbing on gameday.”
He also added that he’s relieved that Minter will keep his guys fresher leading up to games. To me, that’s clear vindication for Baltimore’s decision to fire Harbaugh.
Baltimore Ravens may have gotten more vindication for John Harbaugh firing
In some ways, Harbaugh’s practice strategies worked. I mean, he won a Super Bowl after all. His teams were also consistently competitive, making the playoffs in 12 seasons across his 18-year tenure. However, just as Harbaugh’s all-pads, no breaks thought process prepares players mentally, the body obviously takes a major hit, which is debatably worse.
Under Harbaugh, the Ravens were a team that seemed to have a loaded injury report more often than not. Those relentless practices pretty much give the exact reason why that was always happening. Sure, it still led to wins, but when the going gets tough late in the year and every snap counts, it’d be much better to be fresh and healthy. That might give reason to their playoff woes, too. The cold and banged up players usually don't mix well.
It also doesn’t make too much sense to have players giving 100% when they’re a veteran unit. Sure, rookies and young players like Flowers could use the extra preparation for gamedays, but veterans like Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Marlon Humphrey, and others don’t really need that. They've proved everything they needed to. They need rest and recovery, and the lack of that really showed last year.
As the team transitions to the Minter era, it’s becoming apparent that most of the Harbaugh teachings will be gone. There may be some things that carry over since Minter is part of Harbaugh’s coaching tree. However, he’s gone on record saying that while there’s something to the idea of playing like Raven, there’s a new way of doing things in this era of football. And it sounds like easing up on players’ bodies will be a part of that change.
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