Newly hired Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter is ready to take on the challenge.
Minter, the defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers from 2024 to 2025, takes over for longtime head coach John Harbaugh, with whom the Ravens parted ways this month after missing out on the playoffs. He will now be tasked with revitalizing a Ravens defense that fell off significantly from 2024 to 2025.
“When this job opened, this became the one for me, and this was the one that I wanted,” Minter said. “I did go through the initial process with a lot of different teams, but as I was able to reconnect with people in this organization, and knowing the history, knowing the tradition, knowing the spine of the organization, kind of what it’s built on, there was no better place for me.”
Minter, 42, does have some history with Baltimore. He served in several positions on the defensive coaching staff from 2017 to 2020: first as a defensive assistant, then as assistant defensive backs coach before being promoted to defensive backs coach.
“I went into this process, and I told [executive vice president and general manager] Eric [DeCosta] this: It wasn’t because I knew everybody here that I wanted this job,” Minter said.
“It was because of my time here that I was able to see how this place operates and knowing that everything is in place to be a championship organization. I think my time being here allowed me to see that. I certainly just have the respect and humility of working your way up. And now, I think anybody that comes into our coaching staff, comes into our organization, you put your head down, and you go to work, and you work every day to try to be the best, whatever that role is.”
As defensive play caller, Minter will take on the challenge of restoring the Ravens defense to its former glory. Despite early season struggles in 2024, Baltimore finished with a defense ranked 10th in yards allowed and ninth in scoring. In 2025, the Ravens fell to 24th in yardage and 18th in scoring, due in large part to a spate of injuries along the defensive line and secondary. At the same time, Minter’s defense with the Chargers ranked fifth in yardage and ninth in scoring.
Minter praised DeCosta for building out a roster well-stocked with talent. But the key to turning that talent into a potent unit is building a cohesive team culture, Minter said. He said he wants to build a team that is physical, relentless, and unified. He stressed the importance of building relationships across the team structure as the key to accomplishing that goal.
“[I]t’s constant conversations, it’s reaching out, it’s getting together, and it’s listening,” he said. “I think that a major piece of relationships is listening and having conversations and hearing people. And so that'll be done with everybody. ... We see football the same way, in terms of what kind of team you want to build, and so I’m really just looking forward to getting to work with those guys. There’s a great roster in place, but it takes a lot of work, and it takes being together, and it takes being committed to doing things a certain way to achieve the results that we want to achieve.
“So I most look forward to taking the roster, getting to know them really well, building relationships and working together to build the type of team that we feel like will help us win championships.”
