The Dream Weaver Returns

Ravens’ DC Looks to Restore Defensive Chops in B’more

Anthony Weaver’s homecoming is both a feel-good story and a good football decision for both the team and Weaver.

A second-round pick of the Ravens back in 2002, Weaver started 54 of his 57 games at defensive end over four seasons before finishing his playing days in Houston. He’s a Raven the way Jarret Johnson was a Raven — lunch pail, no frills, respected in every corner of the building. And now, he’s officially the defensive coordinator under new head coach Jesse Minter, back for a third tour of duty in purple and black.

Weaver is the kind of personality you want to be associated with. Engaging, articulate and smart. Plus, his experiences as a former player earn immediate respect from current players. But how good of a coordinator is he? Let’s take an honest look, because his coordinator résumé isn’t spotless — and pretending otherwise is pure Pollyanna.

Houston: An Incomplete Grade

Weaver’s first crack at coordinating came in 2020, when Bill O’Brien promoted him to defensive coordinator after four seasons running the Texans’ defensive line. That Texans season was a 4-12 disaster on a roster that had been gutted. Naturally the defense sputtered accordingly. One year, one pandemic-warped season, a head coach fired four games in — tough to hang that on Weaver, right?

Miami: The Real Audition

The Dolphins gig is where Weaver showed you who he is as a play caller. And Year One was flat-out impressive. In Weaver’s first year as Miami’s coordinator in 2024, the defense jumped from 22nd in points allowed and 10th in yards to 10th in points and fourth in yards. That’s progress in Year 1. And he did it shorthanded — the Dolphins fielded a top-five total defense despite having only one Pro Bowl player, cornerback Jalen Ramsey. That’s coaching, folks. That’s scheme and buy-in doing the heavy lifting.

The buy-in part matters. ESPN spent training camp in Miami documenting how the energy on that defense was a byproduct of the freedom Weaver brought, with players raving about him all offseason — safety Jevon Holland called the change from the prior regime “a complete 180”. Players run through walls for this guy. Always have.

Now, 2025 was a step back — no sugarcoating it. Miami’s defense slid to 24th in points and 22nd in yards. But context counts and it at least in part explains the regression. Midseason trades stripped the unit of some of its top players. When the front office holds a fire sale in November, the coordinator has to deal with the ashes. Even then, Weaver squeezed incredible production out of linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Tyrel Dodson, along with pass rusher Bradley Chubb.

What the League Thinks

The the league’s opinion of Weaver runs well ahead of his raw defensive rankings. This past hiring cycle, Weaver interviewed for five head coaching vacancies — the Ravens, Falcons, Cardinals, Bills and Steelers — and was among the finalists for the John Harbaugh’s old job that ultimately went to Minter. Five teams don’t bring you in to sit in the big chair because you’re a friendly guy.

CBS Sports’ Bryan DeArdo graded the coordinator carousel and didn’t mince words: Baltimore hit a home run by hiring Weaver, whom many considered the best available defensive coordinator in this cycle — and DeArdo drew the historical parallel to Marvin Lewis coordinating the legendary 2000 Ravens defense before launching a long head coaching career.

The Play-Calling Wrinkle

Ravens’ fans suffered through the design and play-calling of Zach Orr’s defense. Accountability was missing as was experience. Weaver however, will not be a play caller. That job will be assumed by his boss, Jesse Minter.

So the Weaver-as-play-caller debate is, for the moment, sitting on ice.

Some might label a coordinator without play-calling duties a demotion for Weaver. From my lens, it seems more like a partnership. Weaver spent three seasons on the Ravens staff as defensive line coach, run game coordinator and assistant head coach, and the 2023 defense he helped build allowed the fewest points in the NFL. He knows the Ravens’ roster, the building, the standard. Minter gets a seasoned right hand who has game-planned, called games, and commanded rooms — and who can take the wheel if Minter ever delegates.

The Bottom Line

The assignment is clear. Weaver replaces Orr, whose defense ranked 24th last season — only the third time in 25 years the Ravens finished in the league’s bottom half. That’s not they are. That isn’t the foundation for Play Like a Raven.

Weaver’s coordinator ledger reads like this: one throwaway year in Houston, one brilliant year in Miami, one injury-and-trade-ravaged year that still produced All-Pro-level play from his linebackers. The league sees a future head coach. The players see a leader. And Ravens fans should see the perfect bridge between what this defense was and what it needs to become again.

Welcome home, Weave.

Now go fix it.

The rebuild begins in 3 weeks.

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2026/07/08/lombardis-way/ravens-anthony-weaver/