OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Declan Doyle’s relationship with Lamar Jackson began while interviewing to become the Baltimore Ravens’ offensive coordinator.
Doyle spoke to the two-time NFL MVP for over an hour on a video call and it seems that lengthy conversation went very well.
“I really wanted to see if we were compatible,” Doyle said Wednesday as first-year head coach Jesse Minter introduced his three newly hired coordinators. “And if that was a fit.”
The 29-year-old Doyle ultimately accepted Minter’s offer after a year as Chicago’s offensive coordinator. With the Bears, Doyle helped second-year quarterback Caleb Williams throw for 27 touchdowns and 3,942 yards while reaching his first postseason.
In Baltimore, he’ll add the role of primary play-caller and the challenge of helping Jackson, also 29, return to the level that twice earned him the league’s top individual honor.
“I’ve always been too young for every job I’ve ever had,” Doyle said. “And what I’ve noticed is it really doesn’t matter. Knowledge is power and if they feel like you can help them, if they feel like you can help accelerate their career and our goals as a team, guys are willing to listen, to be taught and to grow and to work together.”
Jackson threw only 21 touchdown passes last season, his fewest when making at least 13 starts, and rushed for a career-low 349 yards. The Ravens missed the playoffs for only the second time since drafting Jackson in 2018, precipitating John Harbaugh’s firing and Minter’s arrival.
Doyle praised Jackson’s “hunger to learn” and suggested his clearest path to improvement is within the scripted offense.
“The challenge with him for a defense is that they have to defend two plays on every play,” Doyle said. “They have to defend the first play that we call … and then they have to defend the second element, which is him creating on his own. That second act, that’s the stuff that he’s done since he was a kid.
“That first play can be more consistent at times — with his eyes, with his footwork, within the system.”
Minter also introduced defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and special teams coordinator Anthony Levine Sr.
Weaver played four of his seven NFL seasons in Baltimore, held multiple assistant roles under Harbaugh and interviewed for the Ravens’ head coaching position, among others. However, Minter will call defensive plays.
“This job, and being a coach here with this staff and these players, is hardly a consolation prize,” said Weaver, who was also previously a DC in Houston and Miami. “I’d be lying to you if I said seriously that I wasn’t disappointed that I didn’t get a head job. But ultimately, I just came back to, why am I doing this to begin with?
“Selfishly, I’m in it to try and win a Super Bowl, right? To be part of a group that’s forever. … Secondly, I’m here to serve. I’m here to serve players and help them reach whatever God-given potential they have.
“I don’t need to be a head coach to do that.”
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