After vowing to make creative additions to his staff, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh officially hired former Buffalo Bills and San Francisco offensive coordinator Greg Roman on Thursday.
Roman will hold the official title of “senior offensive assistant” while also becoming the tight ends coach. After working with the tight ends the last two seasons, Richard Angulo will now become the assistant offensive line coach.
Baltimore believes Roman will help revamp a running game that ranked 28th in rushing yards and 21st in yards per carry.
“I do not think that we are going to be successful putting the ball in the air 600-and-some times,” owner Steve Bisciotti said. “It is just not our identity, and I do not know how we got that far away from it. We did have some injuries on the [offensive] line in the middle of the year, and that may have skewed us the other way. But I want to run. I want to run the ball. I want to control the clock.”
The Ravens ran a franchise single-season low 367 times in 2016 after setting their previous low of 383 attempts under former offensive coordinator Marc Trestman in 2015. Quarterback Joe Flacco threw a career-high 672 times while eclipsing the 4,000-yard mark for the first time in his career, but he ranked just 27th in the league at just 6.42 yards per attempt.
Despite being fired as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator in September, Roman orchestrated rushing attacks that ranked fourth or better in the NFL from 2012-2015. The 44-year-old spent six years coaching under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford (2009-2010) and in San Francisco (2011-2014), a reason why he had been rumored to join John Harbaugh’s staff since the end of the regular season.
“Getting a veteran coach like Greg Roman to join our staff is a coup for the Ravens,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. “He is a very sound coach and a good team player who will help us build our offense.”
Roman previously spent time with the Ravens as an offensive line assistant in Brian Billick’s final two seasons as head coach in 2006 and 2007.
NOTES: The Bills announced Thursday that guard Richie Incognito will replace Ravens guard Marshal Yanda in this year’s Pro Bowl. Yanda was named to his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl last month, but he will not play because of the left shoulder injury that forced him to move from right guard to left guard in November. … With the Chargers announcing their move to Los Angeles, Ravens safety Eric Weddle used his official Twitter account to offer his support to San Diego, the place where he played for the first nine seasons of his career. It’s no secret that the three-time Pro Bowl selection’s departure from the Chargers was a bitter one last winter. … The Ravens are now set to travel to Los Angeles to take on the Chargers in 2018 and the Rams in 2019.
