The Ravens’ draft class looks like more than a collection of new names. It looks like a clue.
If rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle is taking notes from Sean McVay - and he is, because everybody does - then Baltimore may be heading toward a much heavier tight end identity in 2026. McVay just showed how far that idea can go, turning a Rams offense that had lived in 11 personnel for years into a 13 personnel machine that leaned on three tight ends and produced absurd results, including 20 TDs to 0 INTs in that grouping during Matthew Stafford’s MVP season.
That shift has been a major topic this offseason. McVay and Sean Payton have discussed it, and Payton’s influence matters here because he’s the mentor to Doyle. The broader question is simple: what made it work so well for the Rams, and why might Baltimore be lining up for something similar?
The answer, at least in part, may be the way defenses are built now. The idea is that McVay leaned into 13 personnel as a response to the kind of Joker defender and Big Nickel structure used by Jesse Minter and Mike Macdonald - defenses that can stop the run with fewer linemen and still keep a two-man shell over the top to take away explosive passes. McVay has long mixed and matched receivers and tight ends in route concepts, whether it’s Cooper Kupp or Puka Nacua, and the heavier personnel lets him stress defenses in a different way by putting multiple big bodies on the field and using one as a move piece downfield.
McVay put it plainly when asked whether heavy personnel on early downs and play-action shots can force defenses to react:
“There's no question,” McVay said. “It really is the same thing that being able to have those guys that we talked about on defense (Jokers) enables you to do. You’ve got good guys, good bodies against the pass, but you're not necessarily lighter against the run.
“You know, you can change the way that you gap it up. So it's really about, ‘How do you change the math?’
Who's got the pen? And the guys that can do a lot of different things can create that multiplicity or that unpredictability.
And that's the key and critical factor.
“That's what those guys are doing on the defensive side of the ball. That's what some of these tight ends enable us to do. And without getting too granular, you know, it's a players’ game and I think the good coaches put their players in favorable spots to have successful outcomes as consistently as possible.”
That idea also showed up in Chicago last year, when Doyle was working with Ben Johnson. The Bears used their first pick on a move tight end and finished fifth in the NFL in two-tight-end usage at 8.5 percent.
McVay led the league at 30.5 percent. Chicago also tied for third in the NFL in pass attempts of 11 or more air yards out of 13 personnel.
Baltimore’s draft points in that direction, too. The Ravens only threw two passes of 11-plus air yards out of 13 personnel with Lamar Jackson last season, while backup quarterbacks combined for three more. But the team added two bigger receivers in the midrounds, Ja’Kobi Lane at 6-foot-4 and Elijah Sarratt at 6-2, then added two tight ends later in the draft.
That group includes Durham Smythe, an old-school blocker in the Nick Boyle mold, and Adam Randall, a fifth-round WR-turned-RB who brings the kind of body that can help sell run and then leak into the passing game. Rookie tight end Matthew Hibner also fits the profile of a player who could matter in these packages.
And then there’s Zay Flowers. Baltimore’s smaller receiver has already shown how dangerous he can be when he’s the lone lighter body on the field.
Over the last three years with Todd Monken calling plays, Flowers leads the Ravens with 81 catches for 1146 yards out of 12 and 13 personnel, twice as many yards as anyone else on the team. Andrews is second with 55 catches for 585 yards.
That’s the real hook here: if Baltimore can turn these heavier looks into one explosive play a week instead of one every other week, the ripple effect could be huge. The draft sure looks like a sign that Doyle is ready to lean into it.
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