The Baltimore Ravens made their long-awaited head coaching hire on Thursday. After two weeks of searching for a replacement for recently fired head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens brought back a familiar face. They signed former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
For the past week, Minter has been the top candidate, and rightfully so. After spending four seasons with the team from 2017 to 2020, he is familiar with the front office and culture. Now, after leading top-level defenses in Los Angeles for the past two years, he’s ready to reinforce a winning identity in Charm City.
Just as Harbaugh is expected to take many coaches and players with him to join him on the New York Giants, Minter will likely bring some of his guys to the Ravens. Among those could include a player that was traded away from Baltimore and to the Chargers this past season: edge rusher Odafe Oweh.
After spending a little over half of a season in Los Angeles, Oweh is set to become a free agent in March. With Minter heading back to Baltimore, the 27-year-old could follow suit.
Jesse Minter could make hilarious addition to his new defense
After a disastrous start to their 2025 campaign, the Ravens dealt Oweh and a 2027 seventh-round pick to the Chargers for safety Alohi Gilman and a 2026 fifth-round pick. The move worked out for all parties involved. Gilman helped make Baltimore’s defense somewhat competent, and Los Angeles added a strong pass rusher in the midst of Khalil Mack’s injury.
It didn’t work out for Oweh with the Ravens in 2025. After a career-year in 2024 where he notched 10 sacks, he failed to tally a sack in the five-game stretch before he was traded. However, when he joined Minter with the Chargers, he finished with 7.5 sacks in 12 games. He also had three sacks and two forced fumbles in the team’s Wild Card loss to the New England Patriots.
Oweh clearly flourished in Minter’s system, and Baltimore needs push-rush help. It’d obviously be a weird move given how things ended last year, but if general manager Eric DeCosta would entertain it, a potential reunion could be something Minter pushes for.
At the end of the day, sure, adding Oweh to Minter’s defense would improve this team, but they need more off the edge. Oweh and Green weren't enough last year, and the duo more than likely wouldn’t be enough next year. They need to find that star to build an electric pass-rushing unit.