The Baltimore Ravens have undergone somewhat of a mini coaching transformation over the course of the 2022 offseason so far. Former defensive coordinator Don Martindale was replaced by Mike Macdonald, tight ends coach Bobby Engram left for the University of Wisconsin to be their offensive coordinator, and it was reported that Rob Ryan and the team parted ways. However, that’s not all.
On Friday, it was reported by Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic that Baltimore outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins will not be returning to the team. He is regarded as a young, up and coming football mind, but Zrebiec notes that Martindale was a mentor for Wilkins, so he could go wherever the Ravens’ former defensive play-caller goes.
In addition to ILB coach Rob Ryan, OLB coach Drew Wilkins is also not returning to the Ravens defensive staff. Wilkins has been with Ravens since 2010, starting as a video operations intern and working his way up. Respected young coach.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) February 4, 2022
Wink Martindale has been a mentor for Drew Wilkins who was highly instrumental in helping Ravens DC in game planning and designing blitz packages. I’d expect Wilkins to go with Martindale if the latter gets a DC job. Either way, Wilkins will have options.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) February 4, 2022
Zrebiec also notes that there are now three known openings on head coach John Harbaugh’s coaching staff.
With Wilkins’ departure, there are three known openings on John Harbaugh’s coaching staff: TE, ILB and OLB. Zachary Orr expected to interview for LB coach position Monday. There’s familiarity and comfort on both sides, so his return would make plenty of sense.
— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) February 4, 2022
Baltimore finished 8-9 in 2022 after a disappointing end to their season, and are now trying to make improvements to keep up with the rest of the league. Macdonald most likely wants to bring in a few of his guys to the team to help out, so the official hires for the open positions could be familiar faces to a few within the organization in some way, shape or form.
