Declan Doyle is getting his first real crack at running the Ravens’ offense, and he’s bringing a blend of lessons from two of the NFL’s most respected play-callers with him.
I asked Declan Doyle what he took from Sean Payton. Every coach should watch
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) August 25, 2026
"He walks in a room and takes over the room. It's the same way when he calls a game. There's something to that, the playcaller having a ton of confidence. As a coach you're a teacher but also an actor" pic.twitter.com/oOrtTJi2A4
Baltimore’s new offensive setup has Doyle handling the attack while Jesse Minter takes over the defense after a major organizational shakeup. Through the preseason, Doyle has mostly worked from the coaches’ booth rather than the sideline, including during Baltimore’s 13-3 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Ravens team reporter Ryan Mink said Minter confirmed that Doyle prefers being up high, where he can better study defensive alignments ahead of Week 1.
That perch is one thing. The bigger story is where Doyle says his approach comes from.
In an interview with ESPN’s Kevin Clark on X, Doyle pointed to what he absorbed while working under Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson. Doyle described Johnson as a coach who never lets the standard slip: “He’s very demanding regarding standards. Whatever we agree upon as ‘this is what we want to be,’ he holds everybody to that every day… that's really what I’ve tried to emulate.”
Doyle also shared what he took from Sean Payton, whom he worked with in New Orleans and Denver. Clark later posted Doyle’s thoughts on X, and the message was clear: Payton’s presence changes the room.
“He walks into a room and takes over the room. It’s the same way when he calls a game.
There’s something to that- the playcaller having a ton of confidence. As a coach, you’re a teacher but also an actor.”
Doyle said Payton showed him that a playcaller has to project certainty and authority on every snap.
Now Doyle is trying to fuse those two influences into something Baltimore can build around - Johnson’s discipline and Payton’s swagger - with the goal of giving Lamar Jackson and the Ravens’ offense a more aggressive, explosive edge.
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