4 Ravens coaches most likely to be poached by other teams

The 2021 offseason saw a slew of coaches on the Baltimore Ravens’ staff depart to take new jobs elsewhere. Just over a month into this year’s offseason and the Ravens have already hired a handful of new coaches on both sides of the ball following the departures of Don Martindale, Drew Wilkins, Rob Ryan and Bobby Engram.

Every year, it seems like at least one of Baltimore’s assistant coaches draws interest from other teams for a coordinator position or larger role. With this in mind, who could be next in-line to depart the Ravens — not necessarily this year — but next offseason or in the near future?

Let’s run through a few names.

Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Anthony Weaver

Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Last offseason, the Ravens hired Weaver as the team’s new defensive line coach and run game coordinator. With Weaver at the helm, the Ravens’ finished the 2021 season with an elite run defense despite dealing with numerous injuries throughout the year.

After only one season in Baltimore, Weaver was interviewed by the Denver Broncos for their defensive coordinator position several weeks ago. The Broncos ultimately went in a different direction but Weaver is still getting looks from other teams like the Minnesota Vikings, who requested an interview for their vacant defensive coordinator job earlier this week.

Also of note, the Ravens themselves interviewed Weaver to replace Don “Wink” Martindale, who they parted ways with. Although they wound up hiring Mike Macdonald for the job instead, the decision to give Weaver consideration speaks volume.

Weaver is going on his 10th season coaching in the professional ranks. He’s clearly garnering some attention for a coordinator position, which would likely resume again next offseason if he does stand pat with the Ravens for 2022.

Chris Hewitt

Hewitt is one of the Ravens’ longest-tenured coaches, having been on the defensive coaching staff for the better part of the past decade. As the team’s secondary coach, Hewitt has been at the forefront of some of the top-ranked pass defenses in the league since 2014.

The Ravens’ secondary struggled for much of 2021 but a rash of injuries contributed greatly to that. Like Weaver, the Ravens considered Hewitt as a potential in-house replacement for their next defensive coordinator several weeks ago. Hewitt previously drew interest from the Jacksonville Jaguars last January to join Urban Meyer’s coaching staff, also.

Hewitt has coached a lot of talented cornerbacks and safeties over the years. He’s also overseen the development of a number of players like Marlon Humphrey, Chuck Clark, DeShon Elliott, Anthony Averett and others.

In addition to serving as Baltimore’s secondary coach, he’s also held the title of pass defense coordinator for the past two seasons since 2020. In today’s passing-heavy NFL, Hewitt’s resume should be an attractive one for teams in the near future.

James Urban

Still just 48 years old, Urban has more coaching experience than any other assistant on the staff. The Ravens’ quarterback coach of the past four seasons joined the professional ranks in 2004 in Philadelphia. Urban was an offensive assistant and quality control coach for his first several years with the Eagles before becoming the quarterbacks coach for 2010 and 2011.

Immediately prior to coming to Baltimore, Urban was the Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receiver coach from 2011 to 2017. Urban has drawn a lot of praise and recognition since joining the Ravens thanks to his part in Lamar Jackson’s development. Under Urban’s tutelage, Jackson developed into an MVP-caliber, All-Pro level quarterback talent.

In January 2021, Urban interviewed for the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator position. The year prior, the Eagles attempted to interview Urban also but he declined and chose to stay with the Ravens instead.

Perhaps Urban has no interest in leaving the Ravens anytime soon, but it’s hard not to imagine more teams continuing to consider him for interviews moving forward. Urban could be an in-house candidate for offensive coordinator if the Ravens eventually decided to move off Greg Roman at some point.

Tee Martin

The Ravens added Martin to their coaching staff a year ago from the college ranks. Martin assumed the role of wide receivers coach and immediately made a strong impression throughout OTAs and training camp.

While he has just one year of professional coaching experience to his name, it’s been well-documented that Martin has worked individually with a number of wide receivers in the past. His previous cliental includes the likes of Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and JuJu Smith-Schuster, among others.

In 2021, under Martin’s tutelage, Marquise Brown became the first Ravens’ wide receiver to post a 1,000-yard receiving season since Mike Wallace in 2016. Martin was interviewed by the Buffalo Bills for their offensive coordinator position last month, which came as a surprise to many but could hint at Martin’s rising reputation around the league.

By all accounts, Martin appears to be a wide receiver guru but also has many years of experience working as a quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator in the collegiate ranks. It’s hard to imagine the Bills will be the last team who could eventually consider him for a greater role.