After just five games, the Ravens already look like they may need to brace for life after Declan Doyle.
Baltimore head coach Jesse Minter clearly hit on something when he brought in the 30-year-old offensive coordinator. Doyle has wasted no time establishing himself as one of the league’s fastest-rising coaching names, and now he’s starting to draw attention as a possible head coach in the 2027 cycle.
That kind of buzz usually means one thing: the clock starts ticking fast. The Ravens may only have the rest of this season, and maybe one more, to squeeze everything they can out of Doyle’s offense before someone else comes calling. If the production keeps rolling, a promotion feels inevitable.
FOX Sports recently pointed Doyle out as one of the NFL’s top coordinators ready to move up, and one anonymous league executive didn’t exactly dismiss the idea, even if he urged a little patience.
"We love the hot offensive coach in this league, so he’ll get a [head-coaching] job eventually. Maybe soon.
But [next year] might be a little too quick. Let’s be honest, it was Ben Johnson running the [Bears'] offense last year, not [Doyle].
I’m not diminishing what he did. But let’s see him on his own for a couple of years first."
Even with that caution, Doyle’s rise makes sense. He’s worked with Sean Payton and Ben Johnson, and that background has helped turn him into one of the sport’s more inventive play-callers. The Ravens’ offense has backed it up, too: it ranks first in success rate, fifth in EPA per play and sixth in points per game.
If Minter’s defense catches up as the season goes on, Baltimore could end up with two elite units on its hands. But that also raises the stakes. If the Ravens don’t turn this into a Super Bowl run, they may not get another shot with this version of the group intact.
Minter’s next test may not be just keeping Doyle productive. It may be replacing him.
That’s the reality for coaches who keep hiring well and winning. Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan have managed to stay in that lane by finding strong assistants on both sides of the ball, even as those assistants keep getting poached for bigger jobs. Baltimore will need that same kind of touch if Doyle leaves.
The warning sign is clear enough from Seattle. Mike Macdonald won a Super Bowl with Klint Kubiak as his offensive coordinator last season, but his other two OC hires, Ryan Grubb and Brian Fleury, haven’t delivered the same results.
In Other News...
Ravens Offense Hit A Wall And Declan Doyle Owns The Debate
Without Lamar Jackson, rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle had to navigate a familiar kind of Baltimore test against Cleveland: protect a battered offense, keep the run game alive and find enough answers for a quarterback room under strain. The Ravens did enough early to stay in the game, but the attack never found a lasting rhythm, and the Browns were able to bottle up the rushing effort in a 13-10 loss that left the play-calling choices under the microscope.
Doyles first real NFL crisis came with the sort of limitations that can make an offense feel like it is working uphill on every snap, especially with the line struggling to hold up. There were chances to vary the ground game and stress Cleveland in different ways, but the sequence of plays never really opened the door wide enough for Baltimore to escape its own stall, and the result was a reminder that the Ravens offense still has a long way to go before it can operate cleanly without its star quarterback. [Read more 🡒]
Browns Rookie Drew Praise After Helping Flip Ravens Loss
Carson Schwesinger was one of the quieter reasons the Browns were able to hang around long enough to beat the Ravens, but his impact showed up everywhere on the stat sheet and in the tone of the defense. The rookie linebacker finished with a game-high 13 tackles and added a forced fumble in Clevelands 13-10 win, the kind of all-around effort that can shape a tight AFC North game when every possession feels loaded.
Jared Verse singled out Schwesinger afterward for the way he kept playing through the kind of setback that often pulls young defenders out of the rotation. For Baltimore, it was one more reminder of how quickly a game can tilt when a linebacker is consistently around the ball, especially when a turnover turns into points and changes the entire feel of the fourth quarter. [Read more 🡒]
Ravens Suddenly Need Cam Jurgens More Than Ever Against Bengals
Baltimores offensive line issues have been building for weeks, and the middle of the unit has been hit especially hard. The Ravens traded for Cam Jurgens from Philadelphia to help stabilize things, but he has spent the past two weeks out with a concussion, leaving the team to keep patching together the interior while the injuries pile up around him.
With Cincinnati next on the schedule, Jurgens suddenly looms as a more important piece than he did when the deal was made. A healthy return would give Baltimore a cleaner answer in the middle and ease some of the strain on a line that has already had trouble holding up, which is exactly the sort of boost the Ravens need heading into a division game. [Read more 🡒]