With a seismic change at the top of the organization, going from long-time head coach John Harbaugh to Jesse Minter, the Baltimore Ravens front office has welcomed the new insights that have come from the new staff of assistant coaches during the evaluation process leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft.
There needs to be communication between the coaching staff and scouting department because the executives are the shoppers who need to provide cooks, who are the coaches, with the right ingredients that fit the recipe that are their schemes and visions for the offense and defense.
In Baltimore, the prospect evaluation process has historically been a collaborative one, and that doesn’t appear to be changing under the new regime with Minter and general manager Eric DeCosta looking to lead the franchise to future prosperity.
“Being on the same page, I think, is something that has made us special over the years and something that I really value and take a lot of pride in,” DeCosta said. “That’s one of the reasons why we hired Jesse. Throughout the interview process, asking him about personnel and hearing his thoughts on things, he stood out, and he’s special in that regard.
“We’re not going to bring in someone that might be a great football player who doesn’t fit our scheme or what we’re trying to do. You can bet that every single player that we draft is going to fit what we want as a football team.”
When assembling his staff, Minter didn’t just surround himself with familiar faces and notable retreads on his staff. He cast a wide net and brought in several coaches from the college ranks with no previous NFL experience, and balanced it out with some with a wealth of it from his previous stints as an assistant on other teams.
“We have a lot of young coaches, college coaches that are coming in with a different perspective on things and also coaches from other teams [coming in with] different ways of scouting,” DeCosta said. There’s many, many different ways to build a draft board, and I think having coaches, a lot of different guys come in with different perspectives on things, and in some cases, valuing different traits or qualities or different things in players really does create an opportunity for us to improve as a staff.”
The first-year head coach is regarded as one of the brightest young minds in the game and is renowned for his ability to get the best out of the talent at his disposal and get them to perform to the best of their ability. He enjoys having more of a voice in the evaluation process, not only as the head coach but also as the defensive play-caller.
“Even the last two years, I was a defensive coordinator, but I think anybody that worked with me would tell you that I was a team-first, personnel person,” Minter said. “The defensive coordinator hat says, ‘Always take the corner or the pass rusher.’ But now the head coach hat is saying, ‘Let’s find the best possible player for the team.’ That’s what you kind of crave to get in this position so that you can build a team in your vision and your image.”
DeCosta shared that first-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and new tight end’s coach Zack Grossi have watched all the tight ends in this year’s loaded class at the position as the Ravens are likely to double-dip at the position in the same draft for the fifth time in franchise history.
“My vision for the coaches was, ‘Let’s talk about what these guys can do, whether it’s a first-round pick or a fifth-round pick or a seventh-round pick,” Minter said. “Let’s find guys that have traits that we can work with, that we’d be excited to work with.’ I feel like the coaching staff’s done a really good job with that.”
Prior to becoming a defensive coordinator with the Los Angele Chargers, Minter was a long-time college coach as recently as the 2022 and 2023 seasons. He relied on his skills and relationships from his time as a recruiter and those of his fellow former college coaches to aid the scouting department leading up to the draft.
” It gives you some connection points with guys certainly when you have a chance to meet with them, whether at the combine and the formal interviews or on the [Top] 30 visits,” Minter said. ” I think having some guys that understand the college game now helps, because there are situations where 10 years ago, a guy that transferred three times, that was a major ‘red flag,’ probably. And now, regardless of what we think about it, it’s sometimes the norm.
During the actual three-night event, Minter plans to just let DeCosta do his job and be there to support as a sounding board but ultimately just take a backseat and let the process unfold.
“I know that we’re going to end up with a bunch of great players,” Minter said.
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