The Ravens could be looking for a new defensive coordinator in 2018.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Dean Pees is expected to retire at the end of the season after leading the Baltimore defense for the last six years. The news would hardly be a shocking development as the 68-year-old has pondered retirement in the past, but he has yet to let his players know of his plans beyond this season.
Pees is in his 14th season coaching in the NFL, but he’s spent more than four decades in the profession overall and was even the defensive coordinator at Miami of Ohio when current Ravens head coach John Harbaugh played there. He was hired by Harbaugh to be the Ravens linebackers coach in 2010 and replaced Chuck Pagano as defensive coordinator in 2012.
Tasked with coordinating the first defenses in team history without future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis at middle linebacker, Pees has led the 2017 Ravens to a top-10 ranking in most major categories including takeaways (first), interceptions (first), total defense (ninth), pass defense (10th), points allowed per game (fourth), third-down defense (ninth), and red-zone defense (ninth). Baltimore has also recorded three shutouts, the second-biggest single-season total in franchise history.
Pees is one of eight defensive coordinators in NFL history to coach in a Super Bowl with two different teams after serving in that capacity with New England in 2007 and with the Ravens in 2012.
Many are already speculating about the likes of Pagano, Marvin Lewis, and even Rex Ryan returning to reprise the role of defensive coordinator, but the Ravens have filled the job from within every time since Lewis was hired away from Pittsburgh to be the defensive coordinator for the inaugural Ravens in 1996. Should that trend continue, linebackers coach Don “Wink” Martindale would be the strongest internal candidate to become the seventh defensive coordinator in team history. Martindale spent one year as Denver’s defensive coordinator in 2010 and has been on the Baltimore staff since 2012.
