Doyle Finds Himself with Both Weapons and Lofty Expectations

Is Declan Doyle the luckiest first-year offensive coordinator, or the most burdened by immediate expectations?

This question is like an almost-healed scab: it gets more interesting the more you pick at it, and it may be better to leave it alone.

Doyle gets his start as a play-caller in the NFL with Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Zay Flowers at his disposal.The upside of his job speaks for itself. The biggest problem for Doyle is that he is expected to have immediate success. It doesn’t matter to the general public that the Ravens are installing a new offense with inevitable kinks to work out, because Doyle is expected to take the offense to the next level. The narrative coming out of The Castle is that the Ravens are getting back on track, and they have the talent to get the job done. Doyle has to start out hot, making his status as a first time play-caller a high pressure job before football weather even greets Maryland.

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The Ravens quietly have some issues that could make being the offensive coordinator harder than it looks on paper. The offensive line was horrible last season, and that’s the journalistically-minded nice way to say it. As a fan, I’d use more colorful language.

That offensive line lost Tyler Linderbaum and did not make finding a replacement their top priority this offseason. To the Ravens’ credit, they signed John Simpson, and most importantly, drafted Olaivavega Ioane from Penn State, to be their starting guards. The offensive line should not be a disaster, but there is only so much confidence one can muster for the starting five. Is Corey Bullock enough at center? Did Daniel Faalele make Roger Rosengarten look worse at Right Tackle, or did Rosengarten see a genuine regression in his game? (On a side note, I’m still chuckling that John Harbaugh signed up for another dose of Faalele with the Giants.)

Pat Ricard also followed John Harbaugh up to New York, meaning the Ravens offense is going through a philosophy change. The Ravens’ identity in the Jackson era has been being one of the best running teams in the NFL. It is perfectly understandable going to an offense that gets more of its dirty work from the tight end position; after all, most teams do minimize the fullback’s role in the first place. That said, changing the identity of this team could backfire. I know there are a bunch of old school fans getting ready to yell “Run the damn ball!” at M&T Bank Stadium. A more spread out offense, with more run-pass balance sounds intriguing. That stated, it is a very noticeable change that fans can focus on the second something doesn’t go right. Todd Monken needed to come up with better answers last season, but let’s not act like Doyle is following a disaster. Monken got a head coaching job, and the Ravens will see him twice a year when they play the Browns.

Doyle is just 30 years old. In NFL coaching terms, he is still very green. He’s gotten some impressive tutelage from Ben Johnson and Sean Payton before, yet he is the most unproven part of a new coaching staff. Organizationally, the Ravens understand what happens when an incredibly smart and passionate coach gets a shot too early in his career; Zach Orr is the prime example for that. Doyle should lean on the experience of the coaches around him. He should take some notes on how to do it from his defensive counterpart, Anthony Weaver. The Ravens coaching staff is new, but almost everyone has a wealth of experience for Doyle to learn from including Marcus Brady (Pass Game Coordinator) and Zach Grossi (Tight Ends Coach).

The good news for Doyle is that the high expectations he has to manage are there for a reason. Jackson is a two-time MVP quarterback. If Jackson is healthy, the Ravens are a contender. That is not an opinion; that is what history dictates. The Ravens had a first round bye in the 2019 and 2023 playoffs, and have had some seasons that felt like a magic carpet ride, until the inevitable postseason collapses. Jackson avoids negative plays better than most quarterbacks ever, and creates a reasonably high floor for the offense. Just like Marvin Lewis didn’t have to be a genius when he had the luxury of a historically great defense in the Super Bowl XXXV run, Doyle doesn’t have to be all that innovative to score points with Jackson.

It is easy to imagine the benefits of the new approach in Baltimore. A more big play-focused offense should get more out of the intermediate passing game; this screams Mark Andrews having one of his best seasons and adding to his franchise records. A more spread out attack could create better running lanes for both Henry and Jackson. More big-bodied targets at wide receiver could potentially make Flowers even more of an X-Factor. The caveat for this though is that those big-bodied receivers – other than Rashod Bateman – are young and mostly unproven.

Doyle’s job has a lot of built in advantages and some sneakily concerning issues that could impact it. So what do you think? Is Doyle the luckiest new offensive coordinator or does he have impossibly high standards to meet as an inexperienced play-caller? The good thing for Doyle is that opportunity is what you make of it. He has the ingredients and it’s time to start cooking.

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