The excitement surrounding the Baltimore Ravens is loud. After a 2025 season that was nothing short of poor, this past offseason brought a ton of hype for 2026. At the forefront of that is the complete rehaul of the coaching staff.
The Ravens shockingly opted to fire John Harbaugh, but they found a very worthy replacement, and a head coach who could prove to be exactly what the team needed. It’s Jesse Minter time in Charm City. He could bring a real jolt to the locker room.
Minter has already done a lot of convincing through the offseason program, but if that wasn’t enough to be thrilled by his arrival, maybe Kyle Van Noy’s praise is. On an episode of First Things First, Van Noy gave a must-hear endorsement of the coaching change in Baltimore.
“Expectations are high,” Van Noy said. “You don’t just move on from Harbaugh just because…Jesse Minter is from the tree of Mike Macdonald, so they’re trying to get back to that defense of prowess they’ve always had. They’re trying to bring back the ‘Bullies of Baltimore.’ I think they can do that with that type of defense.”
Baltimore Ravens’ new coaching staff receives telling praise from former starter
Kyle Van Noy hit the nail on the head. After watching former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald win the Super Bowl as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, the Ravens righted their wrongs by ensuring they didn’t strike out twice. John Harbaugh’s abysmal 2025 campaign gave the organization every reason to go in a different direction, and they may have struck gold with Jesse Minter.
Minter knows how to coach a defense. The Ravens need someone who can coach a defense. It’s a match made in heaven.
Over the past two years with the Los Angeles Chargers, Minter immediately proved himself as one of the best defensive minds that the sport has to offer. He put together back-to-back top-10 campaigns, including a league-leading mark in points allowed in 2024. And with all the talent scattered around Baltimore’s defense, Minter could take things to another level.
Minter’s meteoric rise on the coaching scene is pretty similar to Macdonald's. He might be a part of the Macdonald coaching tree as Van Noy mentioned, but Minter has certainly learned a lot from working alongside him.
The two crossed paths in Baltimore from 2017 to 2020, and both have experience working with defensive backs. They went their separate ways from there, but they’ve followed a pretty similar path.
Macdonald found a home as Michigan’s defensive coordinator in 2021 and eventually landed in the NFL as the Ravens' defensive coordinator for two years before earning a head coaching gig.
Minter’s road to being a head coach is eerily similar. He took the Michigan defensive coordinator job after Macdonald left, became an NFL DC for two years following that, and now, he’s a head coach himself.
The Ravens are hoping that lightning strikes twice with Minter. The Seahawks are reaping the rewards from Macdonald, and hopefully Minter brings the same fortune to Charm City. It's a high bar to achieve, but the new 42-year-old head coach is capable of it.
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