While Minter’s Harbaugh connections are strong, he has a Mike Macdonald throughline. Minter has followed the Macdonald path, and the Ravens are hoping he has similar results with Macdonald’s top-seeded Seahawks set to play in the NFC Championship two years into the job.
When Macdonald graduated from defensive assistant to position coach in Baltimore, Minter replaced him. When Macdonald left Michigan to return to the Ravens as their defensive coordinator, Minter replaced him in Ann Arbor.
The two worked together for four years on Baltimore’s staff (2017-2020) and helped craft the Ravens’ innovative defensive scheme. Macdonald took it to Seattle when he became the Seahawks’ head coach two years ago, and Minter took it to Los Angeles.
Minter deploys a modern defense heavy on versatility and disguises, while still stressing simplicity for players. He’s adept at putting his players in positions to succeed, and will have a plan for how to deploy safety Kyle Hamilton – one of the top defenders in football – and more.
In his first year as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator, their unit jumped from ranked 24th in points and 28th in yards to first in points and 11th in yards. Last season, the Chargers ranked No. 5 in total defense this year and ninth in points allowed.
They had the 11th-most sacks in the league and were tied with the seventh-most takeaways. After being traded from Baltimore to Los Angeles, pass rusher Odafe Oweh exploded with 10.5 sacks in 13 games, including the playoffs.
The Ravens, meanwhile, have had defensive struggles the past two seasons, especially when it comes to protecting leads. If Minter brings back a 2023 version of Baltimore’s defense, when it ranked first in the league in fewest points allowed, and pairs it with Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and the team’s other offensive weapons, that could be a formula that wins big.
Minter hails from a football family – another Harbaugh parallel. Minter’s father, Rick Minter, has been a football coach for the past nearly 50 years.
Rick was twice the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, a college head coach at Cincinnati for a decade, a linebackers coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, and had many other stops. Eventually, he worked for his son as an assistant on Jesse’s staff at Michigan and Los Angeles.
A former wide receiver at Mount St. Joseph University in Ohio, Jesse has been around football his entire life. His coaching career took off in Baltimore. Now he returns to the big office at the Under Armour Performance Center, ready to help the Ravens get back to championship form.
