Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta on new coach Jesse Minter: ‘He just blew us away’

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) - As much as Jesse Minter seemed like an obvious fit for the Baltimore Ravens, he still had to show he was ready for their coveted coaching vacancy.

Then he showed up for an in-person visit.

"He just blew us away," general manager Eric DeCosta said. "As good as his Zoom interview was, I think spending time with him in Baltimore was even more valuable. I think at that point, while he was with me in my office, I started to imagine Jesse as our head coach and what that might look like."

Now Minter has the job, and with it the task of replacing John Harbaugh at the helm of a team that was considered a Super Bowl favorite just a few months ago. The 42-year-old Minter returns to the franchise where he was on the defensive staff for four seasons from 2017-20. Since then, he's been a defensive coordinator for Vanderbilt, Michigan and the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Ravens introduced Minter at a news conference Thursday.

The Baltimore job was considered perhaps the best opening of this cycle, thanks largely to the presence of two-time MVP Lamar Jackson at quarterback. Although Jackson's post-injury struggles were a big reason the Ravens missed the playoffs this season, the defense shouldered a lot of the blame, too. So it made sense to look at Minter, given his experience coaching defense and his familiarity with the Ravens.

"When I heard Jesse's name as a possible candidate, it was hard for me to envision Jesse like he is, because my experience was with Jesse primarily in the draft years ago when he was doing all the bottom guys on the draft board in the secondary. I just didn't really ever think of him like that," DeCosta said. "But watching him last year - we played (the Chargers) last year - and watching that defense, I'm like, 'Damn, this is a good team. This is a really good defense. Jesse's doing a hell of a job.'"

Minter said the Baltimore job was the one he wanted, and while any new coach might say that, there are plenty of reasons to believe him.

"You really have no idea what jobs are going to be open. As you get towards the middle and end of the season, you feel like you might be a candidate," Minter said. "But when this job opened, this became the one for me, and this was the one that I wanted. I did go through the initial process with a lot of different teams, but as I was able to reconnect with people in this organization, and knowing the history, knowing the tradition, knowing the spine of the organization, kind of what it's built on, there was no better place for me."

The Ravens interviewed no fewer than 16 people for the job, which DeCosta described as an illuminating process for a team that hadn't had a head coaching vacancy since Harbaugh took over before the 2008 season.

"It was a sprint. We treated it like a two-week draft, essentially," DeCosta said. "In most cases, we'd have two interviews a day at various times of the day. It was just really interesting. It was valuable for me, personally, to talk to all these extremely intelligent great leaders from other teams to see how they do things. I learned a lot. It's not something that you want to do every year, certainly, but to do it once I think was a very, very valuable experience for me."

Minter said he plans to call defensive plays. He also said he's had "multiple conversations" with Jackson and looks forward to more. DeCosta said a small group of players met with finalists for the job, either in person or via video conferencing.

Minter takes over a team with plenty of talent. Since Jackson was drafted in 2018, only Kansas City and Buffalo have more regular-season wins than Baltimore. But the Ravens and Bills haven't reached a Super Bowl during that span, and it was no coincidence that both hired new coaches this month.

"We will build a true team built on toughness, fundamentals, a team that plays together, and we will work to be the best team in the National Football League," Minter said. "We will be at our best when our best is needed - I think that's really important."