Camping with Coach Minter and the new way of doing things in Owings Mills

With a few days of observations under his purple belt, our Luke Jones joins Nestor to discuss the work on the fields in Owings Mills as the Baltimore Ravens hit the field with a whole new feel under rookie head coach Jesse Minter and a real belief in the Super Bowl possibilities. But, here’s what needs to go the right way in August…

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Baltimore Ravens’ training camp, highlighting the departure of John Harbaugh and the arrival of new head coach Jesse Minter. They note the quieter presence of Minter compared to Harbaugh and the return of defensive player Namdi Asomugha, who is working on conditioning after a neck injury. Lamar Jackson’s contract remains unaddressed, but there’s a positive energy around the new coaching staff. They also discuss the potential impact of Minter’s defensive expertise on Jackson’s play-calling and the importance of maintaining key players’ health, especially as the team transitions to a new offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle.

Luke Jones and Nestor Discuss the Ravens’ Training Camp and New Coaching Staff

• Nestor Aparicio welcomes listeners to WNST AM 1570 and mentions the new Maryland lottery scratch offs featuring the Kiss Face bird logo.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the new head coach, Jesse Minter, and how his presence differs from John Harbaugh’s, noting Minter’s quieter nature and position on the defensive sideline.
• Luke highlights the return of Namdi Asomugha to practice, emphasizing the importance of his presence for the defense.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the energy and expectations surrounding the new coaching staff and the importance of the players taking ownership of their performance.

Observations on Player Attendance and Injuries

• Luke notes the absence of Calais Campbell and the cautious approach the team is taking with his return.
• Luke mentions the slow integration of new center Tyler Linderbaum and the team’s cautious approach with him.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of getting players through training camp intact and the potential impact of injuries on the season.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a smart approach to managing players coming off injuries, especially those with significant injuries like neck issues.

The Role of Jesse Minter and Defensive Strategy

• Luke discusses the potential impact of Jesse Minter’s defensive expertise on Lamar Jackson’s play-calling and overall strategy.
• Nestor and Luke speculate on the potential changes in the offense, including the use of play-action and under-center plays.
• Luke highlights the importance of maintaining Lamar Jackson’s running threat while managing his health.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the new coaching staff on the team’s performance and expectations for the season.

The Future of the Ravens’ Offense and Player Utilization

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential role of Derrick Henry and other running backs in the offense, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of maintaining Lamar Jackson’s running threat while managing his health.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the new coaching staff on the team’s performance and expectations for the season.
• Luke highlights the importance of a smart approach to managing players coming off injuries, especially those with significant injuries like neck issues.

The Importance of Health and Injury Management

• Luke emphasizes the importance of getting players through training camp intact and the potential impact of injuries on the season.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the cautious approach the team is taking with players like Calais Campbell and Tyler Linderbaum.
• Luke highlights the need for a smart approach to managing players coming off injuries, especially those with significant injuries like neck issues.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance and the importance of a healthy roster.

The Impact of the New Coaching Staff on Player Performance

• Luke discusses the potential impact of Jesse Minter’s defensive expertise on Lamar Jackson’s play-calling and overall strategy.
• Nestor and Luke speculate on the potential changes in the offense, including the use of play-action and under-center plays.
• Luke highlights the importance of maintaining Lamar Jackson’s running threat while managing his health.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the new coaching staff on the team’s performance and expectations for the season.

The Role of Lamar Jackson in the Offense

• Luke emphasizes the importance of maintaining Lamar Jackson’s running threat while managing his health.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the new coaching staff on Lamar Jackson’s performance and the offense.
• Luke highlights the importance of a balanced approach to running and passing in the offense.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential role of Derrick Henry and other running backs in the offense.

The Importance of a Healthy Roster

• Luke emphasizes the importance of getting players through training camp intact and the potential impact of injuries on the season.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the cautious approach the team is taking with players like Calais Campbell and Tyler Linderbaum.
• Luke highlights the need for a smart approach to managing players coming off injuries, especially those with significant injuries like neck issues.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance and the importance of a healthy roster.

The Potential Impact of the New Coaching Staff

• Luke discusses the potential impact of Jesse Minter’s defensive expertise on Lamar Jackson’s play-calling and overall strategy.
• Nestor and Luke speculate on the potential changes in the offense, including the use of play-action and under-center plays.
• Luke highlights the importance of maintaining Lamar Jackson’s running threat while managing his health.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of the new coaching staff on the team’s performance and expectations for the season.

The Importance of a Balanced Offense

• Luke emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced offense that includes both running and passing.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential role of Derrick Henry and other running backs in the offense.
• Luke highlights the importance of a smart approach to managing players coming off injuries, especially those with significant injuries like neck issues.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance and the importance of a healthy roster.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST. AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. It is football season around here, and I know that because I have the new Maryland lottery scratch offs with the the Kiss Face bird, my favorite logo that there is. If they’re wearing that on the Color Rush Throwback City Connect, and we’ll figure all that out. But I do love that logo, and I’m glad that’s back. And I love even more. We’re giving them out and doing their own the Crab Cake Tour stops in all of our sponsored locations. Some new places do. We’ll be Acosta’s and Timonium on Thursday. Baseball trade deadline is here, but I’m not here to talk about the 14 to nothing loss or the big comeback on Wednesday afternoon, or even the trade deadline. We’re doing lots of baseball here. We’ve had Tim Kerchon, we’ve had Buster Olney, we’ve had Evan Drellio, we had future Hall of Famer Janet Marie Smith on. We’ve had a lot of baseball here. This is gonna be a football segment. Luke’s was spending time finally out in Owings Mills. The doors are open. Lamar has spoken. New head coach, rookie head coach Jesse Minter has spoken, and not so sunny that you got a tan, and you know, and not so hot that you’re going to complain about it at this point. But whistle is blown. I am assuming it feels a lot different with John Harbaugh gone, right? It

Luke Jones 1:19
definitely does. I’ll reiterate what I said back in the spring for some of the OTAs and mini camp. You you kind of forget Jesse Minter’s out there because you’re so used to if if you’ve covered the Ravens like I’ve had the opportunity to do, or you’ve gone out to training camp over the years. John Harbaugh was always kind of camped up, you know, camp right behind the offense, standing there, kind of in the middle of the whole line of offensive players. Jesse Minter doesn’t do that because Jesse Minter is over on the defensive sideline, calling the defense during practice when they’re in 11 on 11. So, so just the optics of that. You know, it’s just it’s taken some getting used to, and and Jesse, by his nature, is a quieter guy. He’s not hooting and hollering, and not that John Harbaugh was necessarily even that guy all the time during practice either. Well, you did see the

Nestor Aparicio 2:11
Giants video this week. Oh, well, but

8

Luke Jones 2:13
I’m I’m but I’m talking about during practice itself. No, when he’s not

Nestor Aparicio 2:16
being performative, when he’s being a ball coach and not acting like a ball coach. I mean, you

Luke Jones 2:21
you tend to you’re taking everything in, but so there’s that. But you know, for me, I mean, something that was different than what we saw last year after week two, Namdi Banabike was back on the practice field day one, which certainly is great news. Certainly speaks to where the team is with him, where he is. He’s obviously been cleared. Now he didn’t do very much. He went through team stretch and then he was off on the side on the side field working on agility work, conditioning. You know, he was he was stressed out. He was in his helmet, helmet and jersey. You know, they’re ramping up as a team slowly here over these first few days, but it certainly bodes very well for what their expectations are. I think we all, when we’re talking about a neck injury, we don’t view this in the same way that we do a knee or an ankle or an Achilles or something like that. You never want to speak in 100% absolutes. I think when you’re talking about a neck, and and frankly, it’s just the nature of the game anyway, right? We know anyone is one play away from their career being over, let alone more serious concerns than that, as we saw with Demar Hamlin a few years back in Buffalo. But obviously, the expectations are high. They expect him to play. He expects to play, and if they get a version of Nomdi Matabike that is, even if it’s just close to what he had been over the last few years. I mean, that just bodes so well. You know, Kyle Hamilton said it. You know, you don’t need to be a football expert to figure out that we’re a better defense with him out there, and so we can’t wait, and we’re hoping that everything goes well, and he’s going to be out there for us. So that was the big story, and you know, obviously, Lamar Jackson talking is always going to generate interest. You know, he didn’t have anything to say about his contract when he was asked a few different times, so no surprise there, no change there. But I think just in general, there’s just a different energy, as we said, right? We said this all spring, we said this during mandatory mini camp, but now you get into the day to day, right? This isn’t just you’re, you know, you’re dropping in for a couple days and then guys are leaving again, right? I mean, now everyone’s in it for the duration. These guys are not going to have even as much as a few days off in a row until the very end of August, right? So this is exciting. This is it’s brand new. There’s a lot to navigate. It’s certainly different. You know, you have a new coaching staff. Obviously, this is a team that still has very high expectations, and and Kyle Hamilton being the you know the wise beyond his years, thinker and speaker at. Spokesman for this football team, you know, he said for for all the talk about the coaches, and they’re excited about the coaches. They very much are, but he said this game’s still about the Jimmies and the Joes more than the X’s and O’s. And he said whether we’re talking about last year’s coaching staff or years before that or this year’s coaching staff, ultimately when we get out there, and and the ball’s kicked off, and we’re playing. Comes down to us on the field making plays, and you know that’s going to be a big theme for this season, right? You know, John Harbaugh’s no longer here. You know, Todd Monkin’s no longer here. Zach Gore is no longer here. So yeah, you can be excited about the coaches, and and understandably so. But ultimately, the players have to take ownership of their shortcomings in recent years, when especially in some of those biggest moments that we’ve discussed ad nauseum, and they’ve got to they’ve got to rewrite the story, right? They’ve got to change the narrative about how the Ravens collectively, universally are perceived in those biggest moments, right? So it begins on day one. I don’t have any earth-shattering observations from the very first practice. I mean, I thought Lamar looked sharp, but I think Lamar looks sharp in practice most days as he’s as I’ve watched him for nine seasons now.

Luke Jones 6:15
So, but I just think there’s an excitement to you know kind of settle in a little bit. I think, you know, I don’t think we’re going to be hearing very many more John Harbaugh questions at this point in time, right? I mean, I think the spring. Anyone who maybe didn’t talk in the spring, like Ronnie Stanley talked on Tuesday, for example, he was asked about John Harbaugh since he’s the elder statesman among the players on this team. But I think now it starts to settle in, at least for the time being. You know, there’ll be another wave of it once they get to, you know, there’ll be a blip at the first preseason game, and there’ll be a bigger wave once they get to week one. And we’re in game week, and we’re talking about Indianapolis and Jesse Miner’s first game as head coach. But I think now it it starts to feel a little more just like football, and and I think when you have the kind of off season on the heels of the kind of season they had last year, I think that’s music to everyone’s ears to just be able to settle in and just kind of get back to the grind and the process of now getting ready for a new season.

Nestor Aparicio 7:15
Any other observations other than hardball’s not in the middle of the offense? Like it feels like Pat Ricard missing would look differently. Offensive line trying to figure out the numbers. That’s all. Look, man, I did this for a long time before they threw me out. First thing is getting the dance card because there’s so many bodies out there. Yeah, I

Luke Jones 7:32
mean, I have the roster right here. I mean, dude, look at that.

Nestor Aparicio 7:35
Is that four point? What? What is that? That’s crazy. You

8

Luke Jones 7:39
know what that is? It’s Luke last year realizing he needed multifocal contact lenses because he can’t read the small print anymore. So, but I think in terms of attendance, I mentioned Madabike. Callias Campbell was not out there, and I can’t say I’m shocked by that. Jesse Minter obviously acknowledged everything Calais went through over the last month. I he didn’t say this. I think for anyone just being human about this, forget about football. Right? He’ll get there when he gets. He’s 39 years old. Now I’m not. I’m not saying he’s away from the team. Like I’m not suggesting that. But I is he in optimal shape to be so concerned to throw him out there on the first day after the last five weeks that Klayus Campbell has had, I think they’re perfectly fine with ramping him up behind the scenes, and he’ll be ready week one, right? I mean, I I don’t think there’s any reason to think that, but you know they have some other guys on PUP right now, guys that we’ve talked about, Teddy Buchanan and and some guys like that that are coming back from injuries last year, but you know, I I think for me, either Posick, it’s interesting. He’s wearing number 77, and they’re gonna they’re bringing him along slowly as well. Like I didn’t expect this either because they just signed him a week ago. Like he wasn’t running with the ones on day one. You know, like in the playbook. Yeah, exactly. But he wears number 77, and I don’t know if you’ve looked at like his measurables. He’s tall for a center, right? You typically think of centers like Linderbaum, who was more of a squad. Wasn’t just like you know, he’s a little more you know like a little short on the shorter side. Typically, the center of your five zero lineman, your center is generally going to be your shorter guy.

Nestor Aparicio 9:24
Now I’m thinking about it.

Luke Jones 9:26
It’s funny you just said that because you just took the words out of my mouth, and I was actually speaking to another reporter, veteran reporter who covered Matt Burke as you and I did, and he said he took the words right out of my math mouth. He’s like, he reminds me of Matt Burke a little bit, and and even when he was standing with his helmet off, he looked a little not you know not twins or anything crazy, but he looked a little bit like Matt Burke. But yeah, when you look at at Posick, I mean he’s listed 663 20. I mean you don’t see six six centers that often. I mean you know Brian Jensen was a big guy, but. Mind remember he was a tackle in college, right? Some stud territory there. Yeah, so so they’re going to bring him along slowly. They’re going to bring some of these guys coming off injuries along slowly. I mean, Matt Abike, if you told me right now, if I was kind of, I don’t want to predict it because I I don’t know, and I certainly don’t want to make any assumptions about a guy with coming off of a neck injury. But you know, I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s the second week of August and he’s just starting to get into teamwork by then. You know what I mean? Like, I I would say with Madabike, and and I was talking about somebody talking about this with somebody during a Wednesday’s practice. I would think probably their goal for him is to have him ready to start taking some reps when they do their joint practices against Minnesota and Washington, which is you know going to be the the second half of the month. I think you probably do want to expose him to some contact in a controlled environment. Not saying he’ll play in the preseason. the the gage the the general gage that I’ve kind of you know measured used at this point, I’m guessing preseason games are going to look similar to how they’ve looked in recent years. And if you look at Jesse Minter, his time with with Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers, I mean, I think last year was the first time Herbert even took even a couple snaps in a preseason game. Right? That they tend to be kind of like the John Harbaugh school of thought. You’re not expecting

Nestor Aparicio 11:22
Lamar at the no no no no very least yeah you know in the in the post

Luke Jones 11:27
in the post J.K. Dobbins ACL world of Ravens football I think it’s going to look very similar to that right unproven starters guys that are competing for starting jobs certainly veteran players that are on the bubble and young players, yeah, they’ll play in the preseason, and some of those guys will play a little bit, and some of them will play a lot. But your established veteran starters, and we’ve said this for a few years now, and I think it’s going to be the same way. I think Jesse Minter’s cut from the same cloth here, as I think most NFL coaches are trending this way in 2026. It’s going to be those joint practices. I think the head coaches, these teams for veteran players, they they certainly want to see them take some competitive live reps, but they love the controlled environment of, you know, not having someone fall into your quarterback, knocked into your quarterback, you know, situations like that, you know, veteran players, you know, in Madabike’s case, you don’t want there to be some kind of weird turnover, something like that, and you know, some overzealous young offensive lineman, you know, tries to deplete him and hurts his neck again. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, look, I mean, eventually he’s going to have to get out there and play, but I think you want to be smart, and you want to be smart with your established guys. So I think that’s going to look the same. Well, getting your players to the field. I mean, that’s how you win the Super Bowl. So important. You don’t do that. You don’t win the Super Bowl. Hey, and you know, we we haven’t talked about it to this point, but you know what I’m going to say about the preseason, and you’re going to say the same thing. Get to week one with these guys intact, right? You want everyone upright and healthy. Inevitably, yes. At least a few guys are going to get banged up. You hope no one significant, right? But you also know the nature of the game. Even if you do thud, and even if you’re not doing to the ground tackling, and even if you are doing pads on for a day or two, and then you were in shells two days after that, right? There’s still just the reality of you can’t put these guys in bubble wrap, but they’re going to be smart, and certainly with someone like Madabike, certainly with a Kaleus Campbell, certainly anyone coming off of major injury from last year, you know they’re going to be smart with those guys, and you know you want to have as many guys available for the opener as possible, and and I mean that’s an ongoing thing. Then during the season, you want to take care of guys as much as we can. So they’re open every day now. So you know we’re now at the point where they’re open to risk, right? Yeah, in a way where you’re out there, everybody’s out there, fans are out there. Something’s going to happen. We’ll send that a WNSD text. It’ll be brought to you by Cole Roofing and Gordian Energy. But you know it’s football, and welcome to the land of risk. And they’re always trying to mitigate that. Yeah, and even with these early days where you’re not in full pads, and like, look, these are league rules at this point in time, right? Like, no one’s allowed to be out there hitting on the first day of training camp, right? In full pads, like that’s just that’s not the reality of where we are right now in in the NFL, but even with that, I mean, we talked about it. We mentioned it in passing the the linebacker for the Panthers first day of their their training camp last week. Shamar Stewart for the Bengals was carded off on the first day. A guy that you know, I think you know that they had expectations for him. We’ll see how serious that is in real time. I haven’t heard one way or the other, but things can happen, right? I mean, things can happen. I mean, look at Isaiah Likely last year. He he broke his foot on. He just rolled his ankle making a catch. Like it wasn’t a high contact kind of play. I think it was what was it?

Luke Jones 14:58
The third day of training camp. I I don’t. Think they were even in pads yet, and he did that, and look at how that changed the trajectory of his season. Now he still ended up getting paid by the Giants, right? And you know, I. But when you consider what the expectations were for him last year and how that happens on the third day of camp, whatever it is, I mean, it doesn’t always have to be a season-ending injury. Those are the ones that grab the headlines, but you know you can have something where you’re missing all the training camp, or you miss the first month of the season, and you never really recover from that. So that’s every head coach, every coordinator in this league. They’re going through training camp. They’re they’re saying their prayers when their head hits the pillow, just said, “Hey, can we get through another day where everyone’s okay? You know, we got to get our work in, we got to play. Not to mention

Nestor Aparicio 15:48
pulled this or you know needs a down day or, um, but you know, dude, it’s until July as we tape this, and it will be through the week, right? Like they’re not playing till the middle of September. Sure.

8

Luke Jones 16:01
Oh, and and that’s

Nestor Aparicio 16:02
why there’s a lot of nothing happening here until something happens, and there’s a lot of activity, a lot of big bodies, and just some. You know, I mean, trying to mitigate that is the whole job of the league at this point, and no doubt on behalf of all their agents, their families, all of that. But it’s just a brutal game.

Luke Jones 16:18
Yeah, it is. But you’ve got to get your work in, and especially if you look at the Baltimore Ravens this summer, they’ve even more so need to get their work in because it’s brand new coaching staff, right? So you know, beyond that, because you ask me things that I’m looking for, like I’m really interested to see what this Declan Doyle offense starts to look like, right? I mean, you’re work, you’re talking about someone who worked with Ben Johnson in Chicago last year, and obviously Ben Johnson had the track record that he had with the Lions that that got him that job. You know, obviously the Bears made their kind of Cinderella-esque kind of run last year that you know kind of came out of nowhere and want to play off game, all that. But so you have that, but he also is a Sean Payton principle, a disciple, right? He’s someone that learned a lot. Was Sean language

Nestor Aparicio 17:07
that Lamar’s learning? The team comes, the calls. But but that

Luke Jones 17:11
said, I mean, those two systems have some pretty distinct differences in them. So, what is a Declan Doyle offense going to look like? I’m guessing it’s going to be a hybrid of those two, and I think for me and I, people that are much more versed in really breaking down offense and really breaking down film. But one thing that was talked about quite a bit last year with Lamar, and really, you know, even go back to two years ago. But we think back to the early Lamar Jackson offenses under Greg Roman, obviously, they were in shotgun almost all the time, right? Almost all the time, and we have seen the last couple years, and this has been a little bit of a league thing, trending a little bit back that this way as well, because you know the shotgun and pistol has become so much more prevalent than it was for years and years and years, but I will be interested to see because you look at some of the metrics from last year. Lamar did really well with play action under center plays, but they just didn’t do it a whole lot. And I’m not saying that to throw shade at Todd Monken. You know, I I thought very highly of the job Todd Monkin did, but I do wonder if Declan Doyle, being the intellect that he is, and like this, you know, he’s really he’s an impressive guy. I mean, I’ll just you know, I haven’t had a ton of opportunities to talk to him, but the couple that I have, I mean, you can see why they hired him despite being 30 years old. Like you can see, and and even the players, you know, the way they talked about him, there’s an excitement to it, but I do wonder if we’ll see a Ravens offense that one, they don’t have a traditional fullback anymore, right? They don’t need. They’re not going to roster a fullback. Yes, Durham Smythe or maybe one of the rookie tight ends, they’ll line up as as a fullback in certain formations, but they’re not going to roster a fullback this year, I mean, I I’d be stunned if they do because, frankly, I don’t know who it would be on their 90-man roster right now. So there’s that element, and I think there’s the element of wondering if we’ll see a Lamar Jackson playing under center a lot more than he has in the past. Not to say they’ll get rid of shotgun. I mean, everyone uses a shotgun in the modern NFL, but I do wonder if that’ll just be something that’s you know some different looks, and I’m I’m curious to see what that looks like, right? I mean, it’s just you know one day I’m not drawing any conclusions off that. I’m not drawing any conclusions off of you know the four OTAs and a couple days of mandatory minicamp. I mean, it’s you know that that’s a lot of that’s TBD, and they’re also probably going to be calculated even in terms of how much they’re showing, even in a practice setting, knowing that fans are out there and media is reporting on it and all that. So, but I’m just I’m I’m interested to see what that looks like. I think we all are working. Under a pretty safe assumption here of what Jesse Minter’s defense is going to look like, right? Obviously, he’s put his own spin on it from going to Michigan and then being with the Chargers, but we know that he’s cut from the same cloth as Mike McDonald. Those two guys were so instrumental in creating this iteration of the Ravens’ defense that was done like post 2017, right? I mean, those two guys were young guys on this staff that, you know, Wink Martindale challenged and John Harbaugh challenged to hey let’s let’s reimagine this, let’s make this more complicated for the opposition, but easier for us to teach our own guys. So I don’t think their defense is necessarily going to look night and day different in what they did the last couple years. Probably a little bit of a more of a return to how it looked under McDonald, but you know you’re you’re expecting much better things, right? That’s why they hired Jesse Minter. They they need their defense to be really really good. It’s just that simple.

Luke Jones 20:59
But I think schematically, you’re not necessarily going to be like stunned and shocked by what they do. But the offense, I mean, you know that that has the potential to be a very-I don’t want to say blank canvas, but close to it because you just don’t know who Declan Doyle’s going to draw more from. You know, is it going to be more Sean Payton? Is it going to be more Ben Johnson? Is it going to be a hybrid of those two, or does he have something else in mind? Because this is truly his first chance to really call plays and really be the guy, right? I just said it. No disrespect to Anthony Weaver; he’s their defensive coordinator, but it’s Jesse Minter’s defense. It’s not Anthony Weaver’s defense. But this is the first time Declan Doyle. This isn’t Ben Johnson’s offense that you’re, you know, managing and game planning over the course of the week. This is a chance to that it’s your own. So well, you also have a you have several Cadillacs in here, right? Not to plug the Cadillac dealership, but and by the way, Luke Jones is

Nestor Aparicio 22:00
here. We’re covering football. You can follow him at Baltimore, Luke. All the things we do. We’re doing the Maryland Crab Cake tour. If you love football, you’ll love the Ravens scratch offs with the Kiss Face Bird, which I love. We’ll be at Costas on Thursday, probably talking more baseball and a lot of baseball this week here. If you’ve listened in, if you’re on the podcast, you want to hear Buster Olney’s right there. Tim Kirchins here. Marty Conway’s there. Kurt Badenhausen just been a great Jana Marie Smith, great baseball week, but we’re in a football conversation here, and I don’t know that I’ve said this, and we’ve talked about Declan Doyle a half dozen times already in long form, just about his background, his age, just on and on and on, how he would prefer to utilize the Cadillacs, and I go back to Greg Roman, which was let’s use Lamar Jackson as a pinball machine and subject him to contact. And Lamar wasn’t great at the beginning, like not not seeking contact. He’s gotten much better at it, in avoiding contact. It was amazing how rubbery he was the first couple, three, four years in taking contact. We wouldn’t want him to take right now. That that Declan Doyle does not want him to take. That even the more modern version of having seen this offense perform and perform well in a way that never has in the history of the game, how much you want to run him, how much you want to decoy him, how much you’re going to use Derrick Henry, how much you’re going to use Derrick Henry, where is that elbow or that soft spot where the passing game becomes preferred to the running game, and then, who are the passing targets for me? And the the seeing this without a Pat Ricard, things that they did intellectually to expose Lamar or really protect Lamar, Pat Ricard, the running game. Mark Andrews is a binky in a lifetime ago, like literally. Where is A Flowers really a binky? He’s more of a weapon than a binky, and is probably going to be more down the field than up the field. How much time is he going to have with these offensive linemen? What does he really think? What does Declan Dor like when he sees this lineman? There’s a veteran guy like DeCosta or a sage person around there, and I don’t mean Sage Steele or Chad Steele, but somebody sage around there would look and say, “This is what we’re going to be good at. This is what we’re going to be bad at because you can design anything you want until they’re good at it, really good at it, world class at it, and I mean just holding blocks for this offensive line group. Let alone what Ronnie Stanley has in the tank, what Lamar has in the tank, what Derrick Henry has in the tank, where their health is on a weekly basis. When I mean, dude, dude, all we do in. Baseball is managed pitch count. They were doing that with Scoubel the other day. Maybe this let Scoble pitch two more innings. The Tigers win the game, right? Like period, right? But it’s we’re gonna deal him. It’s his elbow. It’s 85 pitches. It’s Bradish. How many pitches he has this week, this month, this year, dude? Pitch count on all of this with Ronnie Stanley snaps, let alone Lamar as he gets up on whatever Lamar is. He’s an older version of it. That’s all I’m going to say because he’s taking some heat, taken some body hits that you don’t want him taking, missed parts of seasons with injuries that are pinky winky, not season ending. Rip my knee up, I you know like he he’s had injuries that he may have could have played through into like these have not been whoppers. He hasn’t had a whopper, so like the way Brady did, the way Burroughs had three of them or whatever it’s been.

8

Nestor Aparicio 25:59
I just philosophically, if Declan Doyle was the kind of young man that would speak to an old former media guy like me that’s not invited, after all I did was sit and do this for 30 years and talk to people like him about it, about their philosophy, and no, and you know, and it was to my credit as a reporter, that I knew what they were thinking and could call bullshit when they were lying to me. Can’t do any of that anymore. But I really wonder what they think they’re going to. You know, do they really think they’re getting 19 games out of Ronnie Stanley and 72 snaps a game? And like, I, I guess. I mean, we’re not talking about anything else. We’re not even talking about who the backup is, or pronouncing the name of the the new center. So we’re early into this, but I always wonder the forecast. I remember doing this with you last year. I think I’ve done this with you before baseball season. How many innings we really getting out of Efflin? Oh yeah, right, right. How many ins we really getting out of Kramer? How many? What are we really getting out of Ruchman this year? What’s the Productivity lane, because they talk about that in a much more sophisticated statistical way than I do in regard to how many. But I’ll do that. I’ll play that game with you later when I figure this out and I see these important preseason games because we’re still not going to see anything to know anything about their what they really think from their wide receiver 234, which is better be important because Derek Henry better not be 72% of your offense. Yeah, I mean it’s look, it’s I just lay a lot on yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, no, but you know, I mean these are this is if we’re in a bar talking about, I mean you have to a couple weeks from now. This is what I’m talking about.

Luke Jones 27:37
Look, there’s no planning where you can just say, well, okay, it’s only going to be this number of snaps, or but you’d

Nestor Aparicio 27:42
like to have a strategy ideally and think this is how we’re going to use these pieces because that’s all they said in the last six months is try to figure out.

Luke Jones 27:50
That said, when you’re in the context of the game, and you know baseball’s different because you pull someone and you don’t put them back in the game, then right? I mean, like there’s no free substitution where someone can get a blow for three plays. I’m so glad this is the

Nestor Aparicio 28:06
things you’re gonna have to teach your nieces, and they need to learn sports. But I do why do they take them out and they can’t come back in? Because that screwed me up till I was 10. Yeah, but

Luke Jones 28:16
conceptually, yes, you’re right. You do want to think about these things. I mean, any organization in any sport worth their salt. Buck Showalter used to say this a lot in baseball. Like you’ve got to talk about the what ifs, right? I mean, look, Derrick Henry’s incredible. It’s incredible what he’s done through his age 31 season, but he’s going to be 33 years old in in early January. Can you sit here and say definitively that he’s going to have another 300 carry season? Maybe he will, right? Maybe he will

Nestor Aparicio 28:53
give him the ball 33 times in Buffalo if you need. And that’s the

8

Luke Jones 28:56
thing, like game week to week, depending on what, how that game is going, you don’t know what’s going to happen, right? If you have a blowout, you can pull Lamar at the beginning of the fourth quarter, right? But if you’re in a position where you’re down three touchdowns and you’re trying to come back, he’s probably going to throw 50 times that day, right? So, so you can never truly plan it out, but you’ve got to think about all the different scenarios. I think for me, I already mentioned the play action and maybe more play action under center, and this really lends itself to the point I was trying to make about Lamar. Now, Derrick Henry, I mean, for me, part of the question is, okay, you can sit here and say you don’t want Derrick Henry carrying the ball 25 or 30 times a game in September and October, if all things are being equal, and that sounds fine. And if if game script and just your ability as a football team lends itself that you don’t need to lean that heavily on him, then great, good. Because the question would be, okay. Hey, you can say he’s not going to get as many carries, but are you going to be able to count on Justice Hill? Are you going to be able to count on Rasheed Ali? Are you going to be able to count on the rookie Adam Randle to be part of that equation? And and that’s that’s really tough, right? Like I can’t. It’s I like Justice Hill a lot, but he’s coming off of an injury-plagued year, and he’s not getting any younger, right? In terms of running back terms, Derrick Henry is the exception to the rule. Running backs that are getting closer and closer to 30, you know, Justice Hill looking at it right now, he is 28 years old. You know, that’s not young for a running back, right? So, so, so you can kind of do that. But to go back to Lamar, because I think that’s where this is so fascinating for any offensive coordinator, right? Whoever’s going to come in, I mean, the reason why Declan Doyle was eager to take this job is because of Lamar Jackson, right? I mean, I I don’t think it’s that, you know, it’s not that complex, right? You get a you get a chance to. It’s why Jesse Minter had this as his number one job, right? I mean, it would have been this or Buffalo because Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are world’s better quarterbacks than any of the other quarterbacks that had head coach openings. You know, as far as those teams. So, but but I think for me, if I’m an offensive coordinator, and again I don’t have any expertise, but I’m just talking about this philosophically. For me, it is not taking away the threat of Lamar Jackson running because that is such an unbelievable game changer and has been for nine years. Because teams have to play you 11 on 11 football, right? That’s something we talked about so much in the Greg Roman era. The idea that you know the the mesh point you have to have a defender on the quarterback you know when Joe Flacco’s playing you know you don’t have to worry about Joe Flacco keeping the ball you know what I mean but with Lamar Jackson you have to be cognizant of that on every single play now that has to be the reality because you know Lamar can do that. Whether he’s going to run eight times a game, 12 times a game in a stray time where maybe you need him to do it a little more because Derrick Henry tweaked his ankle or something like that, or if he’s running twice a game, but you need that threat to be there on as many plays as possible. Obviously, if it’s third and 18, yeah, you’re not counting on Lamar to keep the ball in a design run. Like, but but we’ve also seen Lamar scramble on third and 18 and pick up a first down. So the point is, how can you best utilize that element? How can you design an offense to continue to have that element?

Luke Jones 32:40
Well, yes, being cognizant of not wanting Lamar to take too many hits, not wanting Lamar, you know, whether we’re even talking about the hits, just the just the physical toll it takes for him to run the ball x number of times in a close game, right? There is also an element with Lamar, especially early in his career on those games, you know, you think you you cited that Vikings game that went into overtime years back, where he ran what 24 times, whatever it was. But there’s also the element of when the quarterback’s taken off and running, like he’s gonna be breathing heavy going back to the huddle for the next play. Like you don’t want him blown up on what could be a key third down play, and he’s out of breath, right? So there’s so much to consider, but again, it’s his superpower, right? It’s what is going to make Lamar Jackson a Hall of Famer-that rushing ability. Now, it’s it’s it’s not just that he’s maybe the greatest dual-threat quarterback in NFL history. He’s certainly the greatest rushing quarterback in NFL history, and I I just I feel that way, period, point blank. But what can you do to maybe alleviate some risk? Be a little more cognizant of yeah, he did have some nagging injuries last year, and you don’t want him to have another season like that. But you never want this to just become well. We’re not going to even have Lamar even be a threat, right? And he’s just going to drop back in traditional pass sets, and there’s not going to be a play fake or any like that. Would that would just be dumb. Like, why would you do that with him or with any quarterback with mobility? Like, it’d be dumb if if the if the Bills didn’t have Josh Allen do that. It’d be dumb if you know go down the list, whatever quarterback that you like to think can move around. So, so that’s where I think I’m just really interested to see what this Declan Doyle offense is going to look like. I mean, I think I think all of us are assuming the days of Lamar Jackson rushing for 1000 yards are over, right? I mean, I mean, I I guess

Nestor Aparicio 34:37
right.

Luke Jones 34:38
I would think, right? I mean, I’d be. I would be a

Nestor Aparicio 34:42
hell of a passer then, and they better have a hell of a a hell of a running game aside from. He’s been a hell of a passer for a long time. Okay, yeah, he better be that with these receivers and this group and this protection and this running game in this offense right now, and it’s all been built. Steve Bashati dead. To maximize, not next year, this year, right?

Luke Jones 35:04
Sure, but but I know

Nestor Aparicio 35:05
Lamar next year, yeah. But just to

8

Luke Jones 35:07
finish my point, it can’t be him at 350 yards like last year either, right? That wasn’t enough. Like unless Derek, unless Adam Randall is the next Pro Bowl running back in Baltimore, and like, and is so you know, Steve Bashati found a a future All Pro running back in the fifth round. You know, I can’t imagine that the running backs behind Derrick Henry are going to carry the ball so much that Lamar’s not that you’re going to get away with Lamar not being a bigger factor in the run game than he was last year. Well, this

Nestor Aparicio 35:39
is where I ask who’s the decoy, you know, and who’s care who’s carrying a rock, and in a Lamar Derrick Henry, and you don’t care about knocking the tread off of either one of them in any way. In that way, if you’re trying to win, you’re not trying to bubble wrap them, I guess. Although you might want to think about bubble wrapping eight, and I don’t think eight will be much if the running back goes down. They’re gonna have problems around here too. Like you know what I mean. Running back no problem if the running back

Luke Jones 36:07
if if Henry goes down, that’s where you

Nestor Aparicio 36:09
Lamar becomes the running. That’s

Luke Jones 36:10
when Lamar becomes the focal point of the running game again. And that you know I don’t

Nestor Aparicio 36:15
like that in week 13, let alone in week six. Let

Luke Jones 36:17
let me let me try to convey what I’m trying to, you know, what I’m trying to say here. I think you want to be in a position where Lamar still has the appearance and the wherewithal, and you scheme it up in a way that he still has to be accounted for all the time. But it can be done in a way that you’re not necessarily calling eight designed runs a game for him in the way decoy

8

Nestor Aparicio 36:47
forever. He’s got to run the ball at some point, right? Oh

Luke Jones 36:50
well, and and he’s going to it. And a lot of times that’s going to be the second play, right? It’s going to be the scramble, right? I I think that’s what you’re going to see. Like you go back to the season he had two years ago. He had 915 rushing yards. But go back and look how many of those were designed runs compared to three or four years earlier in the Greg Roman offense. Right? That so so I think that’s where we’re talking. To me, if you ask me to just like, and this is almost being like fantasy football, like trying to project in a year where Lamar stays healthy and this team is mostly, you know, winning games, winning the division. Let’s say, not saying going 15 and two, but let’s say 11 and six. You know, somewhere in that territory, 12 and five. To me, it probably means Lamar’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 700 to 800 rushing yards. You know, somewhere in that that’s where he was in 23 and 24 when he was

Nestor Aparicio 37:44
which would still be in the greatest in the history of the game for of

Luke Jones 37:48
course it’s still incredible right you know maybe 700 you know maybe maybe that you know somewhere in that neighborhood 650 707 is a

Nestor Aparicio 37:56
running quarter like that that has to be a that has to be a real serious part of it. I’m not disagreeing with you, dude. They’re they’re paying him to be that because they’re not paying him to be a drop back. They’re paying for the the result of all of his talents.

Luke Jones 38:10
Yeah. Well, and let’s face it. I mean, it’s really tough to gage because he got hurt in week four against Kansas City last year. But go look at his first three games of the season: six carries for 70 yards against the Bills, two carries for 13 against Cleveland. Okay, so you know, Browns did a good job against him, right? And and obviously that was a game that Lamar went nuts throwing touchdowns. You know, as that day went on, had four touchdowns, and then even even the third the third game of that, you know, he he had 35 rushing yards there. I mean, it’s not as though he wasn’t running at all. He had 48 rushing yards before he left the game against the Chiefs in Week Four. After that is when we saw that dissipate so much, right? Where he wasn’t even, you know, they weren’t running more than one or two design runs all game, and maybe he was scrambling a couple times, and that’s it because he wasn’t at 100% We know that. So, so I think even last year, it’s not like it was this concerted effort that you weren’t going to use Lamar’s legs. I think it just kind of became, you know, it was just out of necessity. I mean, they and their offense was worse for it, quite frankly. I mean, it’s just the truth. We can think back to the middle of the season. I we could I I could pull up plays in some of those games where you’d see wide open green in front of Lamar. You know where he could have left the pocket and easily gotten yardage, and instead he tries to force a throw in because I I just don’t know if he had the confidence in outrunning people at that point in time, I don’t think that’s who he is now, but I think that’s who he was in an injury-plagued season. So, so I think again for Doyle, I think it’s finding that sweet spot of yes, utilizing his legs at times, but designing an offense where that threat continues to be. Along with Derrick Henry continues to be the the centripetal force of this offense, right? And you know, again, he doesn’t have to he doesn’t need to run for 1200 yards like he did in his first full year in the NFL. I mean, like I I don’t see a need for that unless they’re in a position where Derrick Henry gets heaven forbid has a long term injury and these other running backs aren’t getting it done, and then you’re just doing it out of necessity, and and then under that scenario, you’re holding your breath whether eight’s going to make it through the season. So, you know, I think again, trying to lay out how this is all going to look. That that’s where I’m just I’m intrigued to see where Declan Doyle how he feels about it, and frankly, I’m interested to see how Lamar’s going to feel about it at this point in his career.

Nestor Aparicio 40:47
Week one’s going to be fun, and along we got a lot of talking between now and then. But like, but like, how this looks? Who knows

8

Luke Jones 40:53
what it’s going to look like?

Nestor Aparicio 40:54
I’m excited thinking about it right this minute. Wide open way to think like, let’s play. I want to see it. I want to see it. But you know, I’m also hoping the Orioles give us some reason to sort of hang in there, and I’m hoping that the texts that come out of Owings Mills aren’t free starters or lost between now and when that moment happens. But the over/unders at least one and a half, right? Like something bad, weird. That’s just the way it is, right? But in a general sense, anybody associated with this should be hopeful about it, right? It’s been constructed by Bichatti down through DeCosta, through the veteran players, through the young players they drafted, through the Max Crosby debacle in the off season, through the new coach, to the young coordinator, to the Anthony Weaver homecoming. Like, there’s a lot going on here, you know? Yeah, yeah.

Luke Jones 41:39
Let me let me give you one more Lamar. It’s even fun

Nestor Aparicio 41:42
watching Harbaugh as a sideshow and with the Giant, like literally, you know, like these other tentacles going on around the league. That’s fun. The Pittsburgh thing, fun, right? Like, yeah, I mean, Pitts, right?

Luke Jones 41:52
Yeah, Pittsburgh’s in the same space as the Ravens. I mean, they’ve got a new head coach for the first time. But they really, really want to. Their

Nestor Aparicio 41:57
fans think they if they win 10 games, and and that’s the thing. I mean, they just they

Luke Jones 42:01
just don’t have the same potential ceiling that the Ravens fancy themselves having, or or that the rest of the of observers fancy the Ravens having at least. Before you, I want your

8

Nestor Aparicio 42:10
closing point. I’m gonna let you do that. Remember when you and I believed in the Orioles in the off season? That’s all I’m saying. We’re gonna see what happens, right? Everyone

Luke Jones 42:18
loves everyone loves their new head coach until they start playing games, and then right away, you know, there’s something to complain about. But speaking of the head coach, you know, and this is my last, you know, it’s a Lamar nugget, I guess. You know, I mean, I don’t have many observations from the first day of practice. Lamar looked good; he threw his eight flowers. Whoop-de-do! Right? Take 10 hours of phone calls in the first day. But here’s here this is something that I found to be interesting, you know, from talking to some people in the organization, there is some optimism about how Lamar feels about the coaching staff right now. I definitely get that, and again, I’m not even-that’s not meant to be an indictment on Harbaugh or Munkin or anything like that. No, they like the new guys. It’s fine, but one thing that’s interesting, and this was even brought up during Lamar’s podium session. But I know this this has actually been someone else had brought this up to me recently. Jesse Minter is a defensive mastermind, or that’s the perception, anyway, right? He’s a defensive coach, and by all accounts, so far, again, we’re still in the honeymoon period, right? No one’s lost the game, anything like that. But so far, he and Lamar, it sounds like they’ve hit it off pretty well. But one thing that’s kind of been talked about is Lamar’s got a head coach, and I think he-I believe he said this at the podium. Correct me if I’m wrong, or anyone who’s out there sent me an email and say you’re wrong on this, Luke, but I’m pretty sure Lamar said he’s never had a head coach who was a defensive-minded fight caller, like called the defense. There’s a school of thought here of Jesse Minter in the way that any head coach needs to be in lockstep with this franchise quarterback, right? No matter the scenario, you need that. It’s a partnership. It’s the two most important people that you know, guy on the field and guy on the sideline. Two most important people. There is a school of thought of those two, and Jesse Minter coming to to meet with Lamar Jackson on. You know, I’m not saying it’s gonna be every day, but to kind of give Lamar much more of a defensive-minded perspective about how he plays, about how the offense operates. If you do that, I’m gonna stop you. Yeah, I think that’s interesting in a way that think about it, and you could say, well, the Ravens about defensive coordinator. Well, a defensive coordinator who is responsible for everything with that in that defensive room over the course of the week and putting together the the game plan and all that. He doesn’t have the time to meet with the franchise quarterback. Jesse Minter being in the position he’s in, which yes, he’s going to be much more defensive heavy in terms. Of his work over the course of the week. However, he is the head coach. Anthony Weaver is going to be the one that primarily puts together the game plan along with the assistant coaches. Minter will be involved in that, and then obviously the headset goes to Jesse Minter on game day, right? So there’s a process to all that, but part of Jesse Minter not being the full, true 100% defensive coordinator is on a Tuesday he can meet with Lamar Jackson or Monday afternoon or wherever whenever they decide to do it, and he can give Lamar a different perspective that frankly John Harbaugh or Bobby Petrino at Louisville could not give him, and I just I think that’s interesting. Now, I don’t know if that means Lamar’s going to have the best season of his career, right? I mean, that’s a high bar for Lamar Jackson to be able to do that in terms of the regular season. It’s all about the Super Bowl for everyone on this team right now. But I just thought, you know, that’s something that I hadn’t necessarily given a lot of thought. But someone brought that up to me a couple days ago, as this was starting to, and I thought that’s kind of interesting if you really think about it.

Luke Jones 46:11
That, you know, in the same way that, you know, you think about like the baseball dynamic, a pitcher comes up and and gives up a teammate that’s a hitter. He happened to play with the the guy that’s going to be on the mound. He played with him in Milwaukee a few years earlier. And hey, watch out for this. And then that hitter goes up and hits a home run because of the tip that that guy’s former teammate gave him or something. You know, it reminds me of that a little bit. It just it kind of gives Lamar potentially a different perspective as far as a head coach who knows defense so well and can say, “Hey, right here, you should have done this because the defense coordinator is thinking this, and that’s how they attacked you. Here’s how you countered that. I mean, it it really it’s interesting. It’s just another layer to this that we talked about starting in January. The idea that you bring in a coach that has an expertise-no offense to special teams, and again, I’m not trying to be disparaging to John Harbaugh here, but who has a heightened level of expertise on one side of the ball or the other, who is freed up to not have the full-blown coordinator responsibilities? That you know, I think that’s a wrinkle that you could see the Ravens, you know, it’s not going to be something that’s advertised, but I think it’s something they can do behind the scenes that could end up being really interesting. And who knows, something that Jesse Minter might tell him that, hey, look for this defense to do this in that situation because that’s how I would play it. I mean, that could win them a game at some point. Who knows? I mean, I just I just think that’s that’s interesting, and I think in general the competition over the course of the summer, when Jesse Minter is the guy calling the defense in practice every day against Declan Doyle, not just Lamar but Declan Doyle also as a first-time play caller, that’s a that’s a really interesting chess match that is always there between coordinators. Again, I don’t want to. They’re not reinventing football, but I. It’s a little bit of a different. It’s a little different wrinkle than we’re used to in these parts when you had more of the CEO model as as your head coach over the last 18 years.

Nestor Aparicio 48:12
All right, Luke’s gonna have observations like that from out in Owings Mills. We have plenty of observations for the MLB trade deadline this weekend. We are doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour presented by the Maryland Lottery. I have my Ravens scratch offs here. We’ll have these at Costas on Thursday. We’ll have the Koco’s on the 26th of next month. Don’t look for a Koco’s crab cake next week. They’re on vacation, so that’s when you’re going to want it the most. You better get there this weekend before they run out. The Phillies are getting here this weekend as well. My goodness, just a lot going on as football and baseball intersect, and the way the baseball team played on Wednesday afternoon, there feels like there’s some life, some lively. Certainly going to be livelihood in the city here with the Phillies in town, and lots of sound now available. Locker room sound at Baltimore Positive. Luke’s out there doing that work, and we’re just here talking about all sorts of things. He is Luke. I am Nestor. We are WNSTA in 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking. Baltimore positive.