The Baltimore Ravens have an exciting new era lying ahead of them. After firing John Harbaugh, they are out with the old and in with the new. Their hire of Jesse Minter has brought a ton of praise to an organization that had one of its most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
Minter is facing enormous expectations. For a first-year head coach, that is usually unfair, but in a place like Baltimore, that’s expected. With a long history of consistent success, Minter has a lot to live up to. Two weeks in, though, he is already blowing people away.
Minter is building an exceptional coaching staff thus far. His offensive and defensive coordinator hires have been especially great, with Declan Doyle and Anthony Weaver being two of the fastest-rising coaches on the market. In Dan Orlovsky’s eyes, he’s really excited to see how Minter leads this team in 2026.
On Wednesday, Orlovsky joined Ryan Ripken on The Ryan Ripken Show to talk about the youth movement going on with the Ravens coaching staff. He couldn’t stop raving about Minter.
“When you have the opportunity to call these games, and you sit down with coaches, you very quickly, within a matter of minutes, know the guys that you’re like, ‘you’re a head coach,’” Orlovsky said. “Jesse [Minter] was one of those guys. You could sit with him for less than 180 seconds, and you hear how he communicates, listens, answers questions, his vision of football, team, the clarity, and you go, ‘that’s a head coach.’”
“He’s also been around football forever. His father was a very successful football coach,” Orlovsky added.
Orlovsky also followed up with a post on X, mentioning he loves the staff that Minter is building.
Think it’s the best new staff compiled https://t.co/ZZ6T2CVWKn
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) February 4, 2026
Ravens’ Jesse Minter continues to earn high praise as the offseason moves along
By all accounts, Minter was one of the top, if not the best, coaches on the market this cycle. Hearing it from a guy like Orlovsky, who’s spoken to countless coaches across his NFL playing and media career, should only get Ravens fans more excited. Minter is backing it all up with his staff building as well.
Of course, the only thing that’ll ultimately matter is winning football games. While we’ll have to wait several agonizing months before we see what Minter can do as a head coach, it seems he’s pressing all the right buttons early in the offseason.
It felt like many members of Harbaugh’s old coaching staff were losing the locker and didn’t really provide that spark the team needed. Minter is cleaning house and adding an impressive cast of characters that should have the team firing on all cylinders come time for the 2026 regular season. Declan Doyle, Anthony Weaver, Dwayne Ledford, and Mike Mickens are just a few names that have people high on the Ravens right now.
It’ll be interesting to see how Minter conducts his work through free agency. Obviously, General Manager Eric DeCosta has the most say on those decisions, but Minter will be enforcing a new era of play on the field. He’s looking to bring back that physical, dominant style of Baltimore defense, while also building the best team possible around quarterback Lamar Jackson. We’ll have to wait and see where he goes from here.