The Baltimore Ravens theoretically had their pick of the litter in this year’s coaching cycle after firing John Harbaugh.
They’re going with former Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who had been a popular name in this year’s coaching cycle, fielding interview requests from most teams with head-coach vacancies.
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Baltimore announced the news on Thursday. Minter, who’s the fourth head coach in Ravens history, has agreed to a five-year contract with the team, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
He’s filling a job that many people did not expect to become open after the regular season. The franchise fired Harbaugh after 18 years with the team, which included a Super Bowl title in 2013 and six playoff berths in the past eight seasons.
This will be Minter’s first time as a head coach, coming off two successful years as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator. Minter had worked under Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh for the past four years, most recently as the defensive coordinator in LA and, previously, at the University of Michigan.
Minter had one other previous NFL coaching stint as an assistant with the Ravens as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach between the 2017 and 2020 seasons, so there is some familiarity there between him and the organization.
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The Ravens job comes with an MVP quarterback, a veteran core, and one of the most respected front offices in sports. It also comes with high expectations, as the Harbaugh ouster just showed.
Can Jesse Minter break through with Lamar Jackson after John Harbaugh didn’t?
To understand what Minter is supposed to bring to the table, it’s best to understand the circumstances that led to Harbaugh’s exit.
Harbaugh was the second-longest-tenured head coach in the NFL and immediately jumped to the top of several teams’ wish lists the second he became available. In 2023 and 2024, his teams went a combined 25-9, but fell short of the Super Bowl both times. In 2025, injuries and dysfunction saw the Ravens go 8-9, but still finish a missed field goal — or a questionable call — short of the playoffs.
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It’s not often you see a team let a coach go after posting the kind of success Harbaugh had with Jackson, even with their postseason struggles. That might be because Harbaugh’s firing didn’t seem as much about past results as it did internal tension.
A weeks-ago column from the Baltimore Sun’s Mike Preston alluded to the coach’s relationship with Jackson not being too sunny. ESPN’s Jamison Hensley reported that some in the organization felt Harbaugh had run his course with Jackson.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported a key pressure point was Harbaugh’s refusal to move on from offensive coordinator Todd Monken. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport claimed Harbaugh had lost the Ravens locker room, Jackson included. ESPN’s Adam Schefter contradicted that last idea, pointing to the emotional reaction from Ravens players to Harbaugh’s firing.
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That’s a lot of noise for an organization that usually prioritizes harmony from the locker room to the front office, even if they were still winning (in the regular season) up until 2025. And so, Harbaugh was let go, which might have happened several years ago had Jackson not turned into an MVP.
Replacing Harbaugh is a formidable task. The only seasons the Ravens haven’t made the playoffs since Jackson became a starter were sabotaged by injuries; a stumble in Year 1 would be inexcusable. And the Jackson-Harbaugh era was regularly criticized for underperforming in the playoffs. That’s going to need to be different, too.
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Above all, this new coach is going to need to be on the same page with Jackson from their first meeting.
Despite their 2025 struggles, the Ravens still have a talented roster. Now we’ll see what a new coaching staff can do for an organization suddenly running very low on excuses.
