Taking the first snaps with new head coach Jesse Minter

What do we ever really learn from a first press conference with a new NFL head coach? Luke Jones got the seventh question at the Jesse Minter debut and at least we learned about defensive play calling and the tone of the new leader of The Castle in Owings Mills as the rookie head coach stepped before the media to set the agenda for the 2026 Baltimore Ravens alongside Eric DeCosta and Sashi Brown.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ press conference introducing new head coach Jesse Minter. They noted Minter’s extensive experience and the positive reception he received. Jones emphasized the importance of Minter’s ability to balance his roles as head coach and defensive coordinator. They also discussed the need for an offensive coordinator, with potential candidates like Nathan Sheldon and Nathan Shepherd. The conversation highlighted the significance of Lamar Jackson’s involvement and the team’s offseason preparations, including the need for improved player engagement and training adjustments to prevent injuries.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Baltimore Positive live show at Faidley’s on Monday and run the Maryland Lottery ‘Candy Cane Cash’ giveaway
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Baltimore Positive live show at El Guapo in Catonsville on Tuesday
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Baltimore Positive live show at Koco’s Pub on Wednesday (wear Koco’s shirt)
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Baltimore Positive live show at Pizza John’s in Essex on Thursday
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host the Baltimore Positive live show at Costa Timonium on Friday with Farnam and Derner HVAC sponsorship content
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Promote Farnam and Derner HVAC sponsorship and coordinate on-air segments about Zach and his group at Knowings Mills
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Provide Luke with a new hat to wear for upcoming shows
• [ ] Be present for Baltimore Positive shows all next week (appear on the program as scheduled)
• [ ] Attempt to attend the Friday Costa Timonium show (coordinate attendance with Nestor)

Jesse Minter Press Conference Overview

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the show, mentioning the upcoming Super Bowl and various events sponsored by the Maryland lottery.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the significance of the press conference for Jesse Minter, noting it as a major event for the Baltimore Ravens.
• Luke Jones shares his experience covering press conferences, noting that this one is particularly significant due to the new head coach.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on the importance of press conferences, with Nestor mentioning his experience with Ted Marchibroda’s hiring.

Initial Impressions of Jesse Minter’s Press Conference

• Luke Jones describes his feelings about press conferences, viewing them as orientations rather than critical events.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the positive feedback Jesse Minter received during the press conference, with Nestor noting Minter’s nervousness.
• Luke emphasizes that the press conference did not reveal any major concerns about Minter’s capabilities.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the skepticism some fans might have about Minter, comparing it to skepticism about other coaches like Mike Vrabel and Mike McDonald.

Jesse Minter’s Vision and Adjustments

• Luke Jones shares his informal interaction with Jesse Minter, noting Minter’s excitement and nervousness.
• Luke discusses the importance of Minter’s ability to handle being the center of attention as a first-time head coach.
• Nestor and Luke reflect on Minter’s reading from notes during the press conference, viewing it as a sign of carefulness.
• Luke emphasizes that the proof of Minter’s coaching abilities will come from his actions and decisions during the season.

Challenges of Balancing Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Roles

• Nestor and Luke discuss the challenges Minter will face in balancing his roles as head coach and defensive coordinator.
• Luke compares Minter’s situation to that of Mike McDonald, who also had to manage both roles.
• Nestor questions how Minter will manage his time between being the head coach and defensive coordinator.
• Luke suggests that Minter might delegate some responsibilities to a veteran defensive coordinator to focus on his head coaching duties.

Offensive Coordinator Search and Player Involvement

• Nestor and Luke discuss the ongoing search for an offensive coordinator, mentioning potential candidates like Nathan Shepherd and Nathan Sheldon.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of the offensive coordinator role, especially in terms of connecting with Lamar Jackson.
• Nestor expresses concern about Lamar Jackson’s involvement in the hiring process, noting that he did not attend the press conference.
• Luke acknowledges the importance of Lamar’s presence and engagement, especially with the new coaching staff and offensive coordinator.

Player Engagement and Expectations for the Offseason

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of player engagement, especially from Lamar Jackson, during the offseason.
• Luke notes that Lamar’s attendance at OTAs will be crucial, given the new coaching staff and offensive coordinator.
• Nestor emphasizes the need for Lamar to be excited and fully committed to the new coaching staff.
• Luke reflects on the challenges of managing player expectations and engagement, especially with a new head coach and offensive coordinator.

Impact of Injuries on Lamar Jackson’s Performance

• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of Lamar Jackson’s injuries on his performance during the 2025 season.
• Luke suggests that Lamar might need to adjust his training and recovery methods to avoid future injuries.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of Lamar’s health and performance for the success of the team.
• Luke highlights the need for Lamar to be introspective and make necessary adjustments to his training regimen.

Team Dynamics and Player Development

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of team dynamics and player development under the new coaching staff.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a partnership between coaches and players to achieve success.
• Nestor reflects on the challenges of maintaining team cohesion and player motivation.
• Luke highlights the importance of player buy-in and ownership in the new coaching system.

Future Plans and Offseason Activities

• Nestor and Luke discuss the team’s future plans and offseason activities, including the search for an offensive coordinator.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of player engagement and preparation for the upcoming season.
• Nestor reflects on the need for the team to address any weaknesses and improve their performance.
• Luke highlights the importance of a successful offseason to set the team up for success in the upcoming season.

Final Thoughts and Upcoming Events

Nestor and Luke express their excitement for the upcoming events and the new coaching staff.

Nestor and Luke wrap up the discussion, reflecting on the key points covered during the conversation.

Nestor mentions upcoming events and appearances for the show, including visits to various locations around Baltimore.

Luke shares his thoughts on the importance of the offseason and the upcoming season for the team.

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Jesse Minter, Baltimore Ravens, press conference, new head coach, offensive coordinator, Lamar Jackson, player involvement, defensive coordinator, training camp, player injuries, coaching philosophy, team roster, offseason activities, player motivation, coaching staff.

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. Get you through another cold weekend and see this is the the first football less weekend we’ve had since last July. And then we have one week, one game, not counting the Pro Bowl, even though Tory Smith is involved. Hope he catches a few for sure. If nothing else, we’ll have a Super Bowl next week, and we’re doing a cup of soup or bowl that is brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I’ll have candy cane cash to give away. Monday, we begin the festivities at faidley’s. I am wearing my Koco’s shirt. This will be Wednesday. On Tuesday, we’re El Guapo, over at Catonsville, then Thursday, at Pizza John’s. It’s on Luke’s head. And then on Friday, we will be up at Costa simtimonium, big thanks to a brand new sponsor at Farnan and Derner. We are we’re going to be talking about HVAC, because it’s cold out, and I hope you don’t need it, but if you do, you call the comfort guys. We’ll be telling you more about Zach and his group at knowings Mills, who will be sponsoring all things Baltimore sports here at Baltimore positive and this guy is all things Baltimore sports. Press Conference. New head coach, Luke gets a little bit of a bucket list thing for a guy that’s been doing this for 1516, years, right?

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Luke Jones  01:20

Yeah. On the football side, I’ve certainly covered some new manager press conferences over the years, although not, not that many, considering Buck Showalter covered most of my time covering the Orioles.

Nestor Aparicio  01:32

I was there when Ted marchabrota was hired with the Baltimore Ravens. Get off my lawn.

Luke Jones  01:38

Yeah, it’s been a minute. But yeah, when you’ve only done something four times in what 31 years now, as the ravens are going into their 31st season here in Baltimore, it’s certainly a big event. You know, my feelings on introductory press conferences. I view it as not much more than orientation on the first day of school. I view it really through a pass, fail. Kind of land?

Nestor Aparicio  02:01

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Well, you passed. He said, great question to you. He said, great question. Everybody he did.

Luke Jones  02:06

But I thought it was fine. I’d say this, because I don’t like putting too much stock into these things unless, unless you have someone who says something beyond the pale, dumb Dan Campbell, something. But even that, that was more quirky than oh my gosh, like, this guy’s like, said something shameful, right? But I think the idea of winning a press conference, and when I say winning, I use quotations, I think that’s overrated a lot of times. I think we’ve seen coaches and managers who didn’t necessarily have the best first impression or leave the best first impression. End up doing a good job, and then we’ve seen others that kind of wow people and win the press conference, and they end up not having a whole lot of substance to them. I’d say this, if you like, the Jesse Minter higher, which I think most people around the league have sung the praises of that. I mean, I I think my understanding is eight of the 10 teams talked to him, at least with the first round zoom interview. That’s my understanding. That’s not official, but that’s what I’ve understood. He was considered one of the very best candidates. So if you subscribe to that, if you buy that, if you like the hire, I don’t think there was anything that was said on Thursday that deters that, that makes you change your mind, that makes you say, Oh, I don’t know so much about this guy now. And on the flip

Nestor Aparicio  03:29

side, if you like the brown tire,

Luke Jones  03:32

sure, sure, sure. Although I’ll always root for Todd Monckton, I just don’t see him. I don’t see that working out because it’s the browns. I don’t see anyone ever working out there. But on the flip side, if for whatever reason, you’re skeptical or have questions about Jesse Minter or doubts, and look, anyone’s entitled to

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Nestor Aparicio  03:49

their Steelers fans have skepticism about a guy who won a Super Bowl that ran the big packers and the Cowboys. He knows what he’s doing now, whether he’s gonna win or not. That goes right up there with Mike Vrabel being a retread, and Mike McDonald being the flavor of the month playing in the Super Bowl next year. Right? Like, coaches come in all sorts of flavors. They really do.

Luke Jones  04:07

They do but, but to finish my point, if you had some doubts, I’m not sure you heard anything during the press conference, that immediately makes you say, Oh, I was wrong. I’m totally sold this guy’s going to be the best coach ever, right? I mean, we don’t know. We’ll find out. I had a chance to to meet Jesse Minter afterwards for a little while. You know, very informal, and, you know, he’s cordial. I think he’s really excited to be the Ravens head coach. I think he admittedly was a little bit nervous, like, he’s not used to being the center of attention like this. That’s going to be an adjustment for him, as it would be for any first time head coach. I don’t think that’s anything to be discouraged about. I think that humanizes somebody, if, if they’re, you know, you can sense that they’re a little bit nervous. You know, he read from notes on his opening statement, which was fine. So it was fine. I I wouldn’t say it was the best introductory press conference I’ve ever watched. I don’t really care. If it would have been. And on the flip side, there wasn’t anything that was said where I’m like, Oh, I don’t know about that, or, Oh, I don’t like how that sounds. I think he in spots where it called for him to tread carefully, where he’s not trying to throw last year’s coaches under the bus, Zach Orr under the bus, who he knows, who he worked with, right? You know, I think he was treading carefully on a couple of those. But ultimately, the proof is going to be in what kind of program he builds as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, not just continuing what John Harbaugh did, or just being a carbon copy of Jim Harbaugh, it’s taking those lessons and then molding it into what his vision is going to be, which I don’t think is going to be drastically different. It’s why the Ravens hired Jesse Minter. They they clearly were okay and good with familiarity. I They preferred that, I think, at the end of the day, but at the same time, as I said to you a few days ago, and I’ll continue to say, he’s not John Harbaugh, he’s not Jim Harbaugh, he’s Jesse Minter. He’s not Rick Minter, his father, right? We’re going to find out the truth will reveal itself in terms of what head coach he’s going to be in the coming weeks and in the coming months, and when it’s the third week of training camp and he’s speaking to the media for the sixth time in seven days, how does that go? And most importantly, how does it go when he inevitably loses a game because he’s not going to go undefeated, and he makes some kind of questionable or bad decision at some point. Because every coach does, even Bill Belichick, even Vince Lombardi once upon a time.

Nestor Aparicio  06:33

So that’s non Hall of Famer. Bill Belichick team, right? Pat, right. Yeah, that’s civilian Bill Belichick.

Luke Jones  06:39

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I don’t think there’s anything we need to say about that debate that’s been covered by everyone. Let me cover it

Nestor Aparicio  06:44

in one sentence, because I saw people debating this, if you didn’t vote for him because he cheated, not because you think he cheated, because he cheated, that’s a good reason to not vote for someone. For me, the John Harbaugh was a liar about a lot of things, including my press credentials. I will always call him a liar. So there, you know, there comes a point where lying cheating. I’ve just gone through two, two coaches, I hope Minters better than that. But you know, he came from a program that was the cheating ist college program in the history of cheating his college programs, and he followed that mentor to California, who happened to be the brother of the guy who lied here. So I have, I’m watching these press conferences, not as theater, although that’s what they are. I mean, bashati is out there leading the kid. He the coach is reporting to him, and he’s not on the podium reporting. I didn’t get that. He did report with Jameson Hensley, haha, Jameson, you’re my favorite. You’re my guy. So there is a point where I watch these things from afar, having done this professionally for four decades, and I’m not expecting to win the press conference. But there is a point for me. I’m looking for countenance. I’m looking for body language. I’m looking at Eric dicost. I’m looking at what the hell Sashi Brown’s doing up there, if, if the coach isn’t reporting to him anyway, and he has nothing to say and is going to take any questions anyway, I thought Eric looked uncomfortable, sort of weirdly, again, in a way that I’ve known Eric for 30 years, I’ve been with Eric in all sorts of circumstances. I’ve seen him on the podium drafting guys. I’ve seen him on the podium after guys die. I mean, I’ve seen him in a lot of circumstances. It just all looks very transitional, and it looks like there’s going to be a lot of drinking from the water hose. And my question, especially for a coach who’s been here a week. He said a week, usually that press conference happens the day after you’re hired, and nothing is done like literally, I mean, for in hardball’s case, they brought him to the podium, threw him up. He didn’t have it, you know, he got out of a car and walked in because of the snowstorm, because of the time and all of that. This guy’s had a little bit more time to prepare for everything, including the press conference. Um, what did you learn? That’s really for me, I’m like, what did I learn? And you I learned that they still hand you questions, and we’re, what would it be? Number eight. Now, nine. We’ve slipped in the last couple weeks. It’s like a, it’s like a bowl ranking. You know, seven, seven. Okay, we have fallen five to seven. You’re five. Oh, no. It was seven. The week it was oh, you’re always seven. Okay, let us know what we do six or five. Yeah, yeah. If it’s about being local, we’ll be one, right, exactly like the college football playoff ranking. But, yeah, I saw but nonetheless, even when you have question seven, the question you ask is affected by the six guys in front of you, because you’re not going to ask the same. Going to ask the same question again. So I will ask you, because I don’t know, and it didn’t have my name on your badge out there, which I’m appreciative of did, was that your question all along, it felt like it was to me. I know you. Well, the defense coordinator making calls questions, I learned something through your question. I just want to say that, well,

Luke Jones  09:59

it comes down to this. Mean whether you’re going to have the and let me be clear, I don’t like that format either. I, you know, I It’s bush league. I understand why teams try to do something like that, because you have a lot of media members, and you don’t want 12 different people yelling at the same time trying to get a question in. I get that at the same time. It takes away the opportunity for follow up questions and so forth. You know, again, most people

Nestor Aparicio  10:27

that it’s a fascist policy by fascist minded people, that’s what I’m going to call it. Okay, I’ve been doing this. I’ve been doing this my

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Luke Jones  10:35

whole life. Okay, they’ve also done ordered questions for years out there at certain times, and it’s going back, and that’s fine, and other teams do it, and that’s fine, like, okay, but

Nestor Aparicio  10:47

it’s bush league that I’m not there. I want to point that out. Do you just want to rant about that or? No, no, no, I want to rant about what we learn when we get there actually

Luke Jones  10:55

asking questions. Yeah, okay, okay. So understanding I’m going to pick seventh. It’s just like having a draft board. You have seven questions ready, right? So yeah, that was and I didn’t rank them per se, but I just had them in front of me because you You certainly don’t want to be in a position where if you have a very specific question and the person before you ask that same question, then you’re like, Oh, well,

Nestor Aparicio  11:17

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pissed at me, but it points out that how silly it is that’s how silly, how self important all of it is. But go ahead, okay, I get to get my say. I just did I know, and

Luke Jones  11:32

then you’ve said it four times now. And I don’t necessarily disagree, but I don’t think anyone listening cares about hearing that the whole time. What I wanted to know if he’s calling plays. And I thought that was a very clear cut question. He answered it, and he’s going to call plays. And I think, you know, then

Nestor Aparicio  11:51

it doesn’t matter who the DC is, kind of, sort of in it matters, but,

Luke Jones  11:56

but it, but in a less significant way, yeah, I mean, you’re talking about a defensive coordinator that’s going to come in and look, it will be interesting to see what kind of defensive coordinator, because it could be someone that he envisions taking over the defensive play calling in two years or next year, right? I mean, I don’t know if Jesse Minter necessarily plans to call defense the rest of his tenure. There’s your follow up question, and it might well, and it might be and, and the answer would probably be, well, you know, I’m kind of figuring out what I want to do right now, but at the same time, you know, and we’ve seen this with you, sign a five year deal. Five year deal, yeah, you know, that’s my understanding. They haven’t put that out there, you know, officially. I mean,

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Nestor Aparicio  12:38

terms are not just when we refer to it moving forward, now that we have a new coach, it’s a five year plan.

Luke Jones  12:42

I mean, what monkey got a five year deal in Cleveland? I mean, it feels like the five year deal has kind of become kind of sort of standard. You know, at

Nestor Aparicio  12:49

least that’s the way agents get their money. That’s the way you get me to leave my job, right?

Luke Jones  12:55

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Yeah, yeah, sure, so, but, but he as As anticipated, and we said this from the moment he was hired. I mean, I kind of expected, like Mike McDonald, who calls the defense in Seattle. I thought Jesse Minter was going to do that. And he flat out said, Look, that’s one of my strengths, you know, it’s one of the reasons I’m here. And I thought that was a very honest answer, you know,

Nestor Aparicio  13:15

he was, can’t blame the DC anymore. It just whoever the DC is. It’s not nearly as important? No, with that, with that question that you asked, sure,

Luke Jones  13:23

and really, I mean, the defensive coordinator, and to go back to that, because you mentioned that, and it’s, it’s a good question that, yeah, it’s not going to, necessarily, it’s certainly not going to be as critical as the offensive coordinator, you know, which obviously we can get, kind of get to that. And, you know, I’ve, I’ve had thoughts on that, as far as far as what they need beyond just someone who’s going to mess with Lamar Jackson and zay flowers and Derek Henry and get the best out of their offense. But I think the defensive coordinator has got to be someone who is going to handle putting together the game plan. You know, the minutia of it, the nuts and bolts of putting together a weekly defensive game plan. Jesse Minter is not going to have the time to do every single detail of that. That’s going to be someone that he’s going to delegate to, and they’re going to talk. He’s going to talk, okay, you know here, here are our big points. Here are the things we need to focus on with this week when we’re facing Joe burrow and the Bengals. Here are our objectives this week. This is what we’re looking out for. You know, what’s our pressure package? Pressure plan going to be all that, and then you’re going to have a defensive coordinator that’s going to do a lot of the grunt work for that, right? That’s going to put that together. Because Jesse mentor isn’t solely the defensive coordinator, he’s the head football coach, so he’s going to have more details, more responsibilities, than just being the defensive coordinator. So it’s important. But no, it not in the way that you typically think of it, in the way that when the Ravens would get burned on third down, you know, they give up a third and 12. You’re asking Zach Gore like, Well, why? Why’d you call that? Why were you in you know. Why’d you call cover zero there? You know what? Whatever I mean. Well, begs

Nestor Aparicio  15:03

the question for me that if a defensive coordinator is a full time job, if I’m asking if I’m following this up, if being a defensive coordinator is a full time job, and that’s what you did, what’s the what is your time cuts here, Jesse, that you’re going to be the head coach, whatever that means to you, or the CEO, part of it, because when John came in, he didn’t coach the special teams, he didn’t coach anything, and he was still drinking from the fire hose to the very end. He couldn’t figure out how to throw a red flag, and who was telling him, watching replay, losing control, things on timeouts, on the sideline and all of that. And he always had coordinators. So I, for me, it’s a Monday, Tuesday, cutting up film, creating a game plan that is a full time job for Jim Schwartz. It was a full time job for Jesse minther. It was a full time job, job for Zach Orr, who had help from Pagano and peas and various ways doing that. Um, and then there’s being the head coach, like, the amount of the pie, how big is the time on all of it? The defensive coordinator job is a big, big job, and it’s a big role, and it’s a lot of work, and it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s classroom time in addition to planning time, but the part where, in the game, I have the call sheet, yeah, and it’s what I’ve done and what I know how to do and measure down in distance, and it played that out all week, and that’s my specialty in game. When we’re on defense, I will hear he’s the best guy to call it. Yeah, I think the other part where the 60 hours during the week that it takes to be a defensive coordinator, and the 60 hours a week it takes to be a head coach, somehow, some way, I don’t, I don’t know what that means. And I think you have brought up the, well, maybe this is where you bring in that Vic Fangio, senior executive coordinator to the to the Marvin Lewis, or whatever, whatever it would be that you would bring somebody in that seems to be a sensible thing for any young coach, specifically one, and I’m just not brushing off your question. Number seven, we’ll go through even Jerry Coleman’s questions, which didn’t get a follow up either properly, but the follow up to the question about him calling plays is, I’m a little skeptical about that because of the time of being a new coach. And hey, dude, that was an 80 hour job week for you in LA. And there was a head coach, a seasoned head coach who did everything else. Where’s that balance in the building for me? Yeah.

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Luke Jones  17:33

And that’s fair. And look, I mean, that was fair for Mike McDonald. That was fair for Sean McVay, when it’s

Nestor Aparicio  17:38

fair for Brian Billick in 2006 when he went back and did

Luke Jones  17:41

it, right? Sure. So yeah, I mean, and that right, there is the best argument you could make for the fact that the defensive coordinator, while not someone who’s going to as I’m just thinking of this. Hopefully this makes sense, because it kind of made sense in my stream of consciousness. It’s akin to an actor who writes the script for a play and then acts it out and is the lead role, whereas, like Jesse Minters, going to need to lead, need someone else to really do a lot of the heavy lifting for the writing of the script, but he’s still going to act it out come the night of the play, right? If that kind of sort of makes sense, like Dan Rodricks, and that’s, and that’s an that’s an overly Yeah, right. That’s an overly simplistic way of looking at it, because he’s still going to have his fingerprints on the game plan. He’s just not going to have the time to be to be as hands on with that, because he’s going to have to be hands on with much more. So I think

Nestor Aparicio  18:35

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it makes it much more fire hose and much more leaning toward the defensive side of the ball then answering offensive questions at the podium after the game. That’s all fun.

Luke Jones  18:45

But the same could be said about Mike McDonald. The same could be said about Andy Reid when he’s asked about his defense, right? Sean McVay, when he’s asked about his defense,

Nestor Aparicio  18:52

I would say it’s just a tough enough job when you’re not calling defense. And look philosophically,

Luke Jones  18:56

that’s a very fair point to make. I’m not. I’m not going to sit here and say, Well, that’s easy. He’s going to have to find the right balance. That’s why I’m guessing he’s going to talk to Mike McDonald in the off season a lot about that. He’s going to talk to offensive minded head coaches that he’s come across that that would say, Hey, what are some tips for how you manage devising what your game plan is going to be as an offense or as a defense, and then carrying that out till the time we get to Sunday, and then, yeah, I’m calling the plays. I’m driving the bus at that point in time. So you know, that’s fair. That’s absolutely fair. And yeah, that could be an argument for maybe a little more of a veteran defensive coordinator, unless you, like I said, if you have designs on a younger defensive mind that maybe has shown an aptitude for putting together plans and doing that kind of work, and is really skilled at doing that, and then your idea is along the way, now you’re going to groom that individual to maybe take over the defensive play calling next year. Nestor or in 2028 right? I mean something like that. I mean, and maybe that’s their game plan, I don’t know. Or maybe it is a more veteran defensive play caller or defensive coordinator who has called plays in the past can give Jesse Minter some input in that way, but also is very well equipped to do the heaviest lifting for devising a defensive game plan that allows Jesse Minter to allocate his limited number of hours over the course of the week. I mean, you know, the idea isn’t, oh well, it’s a 60 hour, you know, 70 hour a week job, and you need to make it 100 now, right? I mean, the idea is, yeah, you might work a little bit harder than you did as a defensive coordinator in terms of the hours of the I saw

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Nestor Aparicio  20:41

his wife and his three kids, he would like to go home and not sleep on

Luke Jones  20:44

Exactly, exactly. The idea isn’t yet you’re going to double the amount of time that you’re going to work, right? So you have to delegate. You have to pick people

Nestor Aparicio  20:51

that well, if you went to Super Bowl call and plays in the next two years defensively, I don’t think you want to give up

Luke Jones  20:56

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that job. And that’s very well, and that’s fair. And I would also say, as you start doing that over time, you figure out best practices as far as how not to work just harder, but work smarter.

Nestor Aparicio  21:07

Well, Steve will have to double his pay at that point, and then, you know, and then have to pay a defensive coordinator $5 million a year. So, right, right?

Luke Jones  21:14

So, so, so we’ll see how it plays out. But it’s, it’s what we anticipated. It’s they believe he’s the best defensive coordinator in football, right? That’s what they believe. I mean, they believe he’s right there with Mike McDonald, or, you know, whoever you want to point to, you know, I would say Jim Schwartz, but, you know, I mean the browns.

Nestor Aparicio  21:29

I mean, we don’t know if he’s a good head coach or not, because he never done that. We don’t

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Luke Jones  21:33

know, right? I mean, I mean, you never know until someone is in that chair, you know, until someone has that headset.

Nestor Aparicio  21:40

Carol was a good coach in Seattle and wasn’t in Las Vegas. Players matter a lot,

Luke Jones  21:45

no question about it. So, you know, from that standpoint, we got some clarity there. But yeah, how he has to manage that on the flip side, and this is where I’ll transition to talk briefly about offensive coordinator, which continues to be, you know, there are a lot of moving parts.

Nestor Aparicio  21:58

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We just know who it’s not going to be, not we knew it wasn’t gonna be monk, and we know it’s not gonna be Joe Brady, right?

Luke Jones  22:03

It’s not Mike McDaniel, who’s officially the OC with the chargers, who I thought would have been really interesting with Lamar Jackson, I mean, and Derek Henry, for that matter. But, you know, it’s not Dabel. He’s in Tennessee. But is it going to be Davis Webb, you know, is Nathan? She’ll house, going to stay in LA or do the ravens, you know, offer him the opportunity? I mean, there’s Declan Doyle, the the offensive coordinator in Chicago who is not calling plays right now. But you know, as I mentioned, that when you do have a first time head coach and understanding, there’s new and there’s very much a sense of any first time head coach, there’s going to be a hiccup or two along the way. It’s just inevitable, right? It doesn’t mean it’s going to cost you a game, per se, but it could, but, but there’s newness to that. There’s a learning curve to that, and especially someone who’s going to be calling plays on the defensive side of the football too, like like Mike McDonald was in Seattle last year in his first year, but that’s where I look at the offensive coordinator job. And one, we know it’s very important, right? We know it’s very important to have an offensive coordinator who’s going to connect with Lamar Jackson, who’s going to connect with an offense that was incredible in 2024 and then took a step back in 2025 I mean, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. I mean, Todd monkin said as much in some of his comments since departing. But I think the other factor there, and it kind of ties in with to what we were just talking about, that’s where I wonder if the Ravens need to prioritize a little more than normal, and this would be something you would debate as far as its importance anyway, but play calling experience now, and it doesn’t necessarily even have to be, for me, someone who’s called plays in the NFL, it could even be someone who was at least an offensive coordinator at the collegiate level and his has experience in that process with bullets flying and a play clock and getting the play in, giving your quarterback enough time to relay the play in the huddle. Get up to the line. Look at the, you know, look at the protection. Look at the what the coverage is on the other side. All that, I do wonder if that’s something that you need to be a little more intentional about in terms of

Luke Jones  24:22

whether you just, you know, ultimately, you want it to be the right person, right? And you want to, you don’t want to just hire an experienced person just for the sake of doing it, because there are plenty that you would look at and say, well, they’re experienced, but they didn’t do very well with it. But I just think back to where the Ravens were two years ago with Zach or and, you know, they went from Mike McDonald to Zach, or they obviously thought very highly of Zach. I still think highly of Zach to this day. I still think, you know, I’m hoping he gets a chance to reset elsewhere, probably as a linebackers coach, or looks

Nestor Aparicio  24:53

like he’s gonna go home to Dallas. Maybe could, he could, but I’d

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Luke Jones  24:57

like to see him get a chance to reset and then get another shot. Uh, as a defensive coordinator down the line, you know that might be two or three years from now, for four or five years from now, who knows. But at the time, the thing that made me take pause about him was he had never called plays at any level, like even Mike McDonald, who didn’t have this extensive experience, had gone to Michigan, had a one year apprenticeship running the Wolverines defense, right, calling plays, being in charge of the defense,

Nestor Aparicio  25:24

but John Harbaugh in charge of his coaches. And I won’t make any argument, because Steve bashati has said nothing else that John was in charge of coaches. John let several guys, including the guy he just hired, go out the back door and not be his DC, right? Dinar Wilson, Anthony Weaver, guys had interviewed for head coaching jobs. I don’t know where Weaver’s gonna land, either, right? Like he hadn’t landed either, waiting on jobs.

Luke Jones  25:51

By the way, I wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t be stunned if he’d end up being the defensive coordinator here. I don’t that’s not Intel, but I think you just look at it in terms of, doesn’t look like he’s going to get a head coaching gig. That could be a good job for him, because you could also give him the title of assistant head coach, you know, someone that can help Jesse with some of the administrative things, because he was an assistant, he’s been an assistant head coach before, which is kind of a title you give someone one it makes their, you know, you bump their pay a little bit. It looks better. And it’s a title you give someone who has some designs on being a head coach eventually.

Nestor Aparicio  26:24

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So, but, well, interesting. I brought his name up, but I just from that perspective the last time around John, 100 million dollar, John, Hall of Fame. John never told a lie, John, he made a mistake with the defense coordinator job here he he could have hired someone season, even amongst his own people, chose not to, and got fired over it, got paid more because of it, and then made a different decision. He didn’t take Zach or as DC, even though he wanted to take monk and his OC, right?

Luke Jones  26:59

Yeah, so, I mean, it’s but at the same time, these are always, you know, hindsight is 2020, and I would say this, I think Jesse Minter, in a vacuum, would probably prefer someone who has a little bit of play calling experience. But I also think his philosophy is he wants the best guy for the job that’s going to be innovative is going to be the best fit for Lamar, for their offense, to take it to new heights, you know, to kind of take the things that worked under Todd Monken and expand upon that.

Nestor Aparicio  27:30

So, yeah, where’s Lamar in all this? He didn’t show up, right? That’s it. That’s me. That’s a headline. He wasn’t there, right? He wasn’t, I mean, Josh Allen showed up on crutches in Buffalo, I’m just saying like, like, and

Luke Jones  27:41

Kyle Hamilton wasn’t there. Roquan, I mean, Travis Jones was really the only truly notable veteran player that was there. I mean, there were, there were some guys like Justice Hill,

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Nestor Aparicio  27:51

Roderick Washington. You know it means, means guys aren’t here this time of year. They don’t

Luke Jones  27:55

live here. And honestly, I’m looking at my app right now in real time, three degrees at my house, if I had money, and it was a month into the offseason, I’m not sure I’d be in Baltimore. I mean, if I were these guys, look, would it be? Would you like to see them there? Sure. Do I think it’s, do? I think attending the press conference and sitting in the first two rows to take a picture and to get a free lunch and coffee and donuts at the facility. Is that? Is that a nice thing from a you know, optic standpoint? Sure do I think that’s a deal breaker or anything that’s like some major commentary on the state of affairs in the organization, not really. You know that that, to me, is going to be more like, who’s at OTAs? Like, are you at OTAs, or are you building a rapport with the new head coach, with your new coordinator, with your new position? Well, the quarterback never came to OTAs. Oh, and that, and that’s where i i will say that’s where things need to be different. This specifically you think so. Why? Why this year? Because it’s a new head coach, because it’s new offensive coordinator, it’s gonna be a new system. You’re gonna have new assuming team the quarterback

Nestor Aparicio  29:02

didn’t respect the wishes of the previous head coach per the union agreement, right? So that’s the way the quarterback has operated. From Hello, I mean, wants to win really, really bad, but he’s gonna do the bare minimum against union rules in regard to off season activities and in regard to reporting to the man. And hey, man, I’m calling it the way I see it, and I want to see an invigorated, excuse me, reinvigorated, $60 million version of Lamar. Lamar better be the most excited about this deal, the way Josh Allen probably is the most excited they kept Joe Kelly around there. Did bring in a whole new ship for him. Specifically, guys don’t like change, like that, in a general sense, Lamar wanted this. Lamar wanted change so and he got it and sit here talk to her blue in the face about Jesse Minter. Rick mint. Or peppermint Minter, if you eat whatever you want, chocolate chip. Mentor, if the quarterback’s not on point fully on point, they’re not going to win. You know that? I know that. And we could talk about all the rest of this. It is eyewash. If the quarterback’s not right, and that would involve the offensive coordinator and everything you’re talking about system wise, to find the right fit for Lamar here. I’m not sure I know what that is. I don’t you know and the right fit for Lamar would motivate Lamar, excite Lamar, and I don’t know who that person is. I hope they find that person they need to.

Luke Jones  30:38

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And I’m also not going to pretend like it didn’t work really well with Todd monk in the first couple years. I mean, Lamar played better than he ever had. I mean, he 2024 while it wasn’t officially an MVP season, that was the best season of his career, in my opinion, and statistically would very much support that so well.

Nestor Aparicio  30:55

The biggest thing about that season, and you reported on this at length, and it all came out in smoke signals, was that Lamar wanted more control. Lamar wanted more control. Lamar wanted more control. Lamar. Well, then Lamar, get your ass to OTAs. Let’s start with that. Lamar wants more control. That’s great. So now the offensive coordinator, whomever it is, is going to give Lamar two plays and let Lamar decide at the line of scrimmage as to whether it’s a good play or a bad play coming out of the huddle based on who’s the mic. And so, to some degree, I don’t want to be flipping here, but Lamar is going to be part of the offensive coordinator you know at the line if you’re doing this, especially after watching Aaron Rodgers come out in a wheelchair and run an offense with a bunch of who’s the nays, and coming up to the line of scrimmage and just seeing I have a mismatch. Even though it’s Adam Thielen and he runs a five, 940 I got a mismatch there in some way I’m going to go to him. And it worked a little bit, because being a smart quarterback, being the guy at the line who can do that,

Nestor Aparicio  32:06

it’s such a it’s not a little bit of a different differentiator. It’s the reason Brady was Brady the last 10 years, all of Tampa. It’s the reason Aaron Rodgers still exist. It’s not Joe flacco’s thing, by the way. And Joe came on the show and did 40 minutes with me this week. So check that out at Baltimore. Positive you Baltimore. Positive you get a chance. I gave him a chance to retire again. Every year I give him a chance. He’s just not going to do it. But there is something about Lamar entering that phase two years ago, to your point, thriving in it from our eyes, but we weren’t in practice. We don’t know whose fee fees got hurt, and who said what and how often, or how early people are showing up in buildings and hanging around and then, then he got hurt. So we can always go on that. I mean, that’s what John will be saying. Hey, I had a bad year. Last year, my quarterback was hurt. So I love that we’re sitting here talking about mentor and philosophies and this and that, and change and fresh air, and who are they going to draft? But the quarterback still remains the center of all of it, and I haven’t even seen that he’s happy yet. Yeah.

Luke Jones  33:11

I mean, we’re going to find out, right? I mean, it’s, you know, I think Eric dicost is answer to the question about Lamar and other players involvement, where, you know, he spoke in general terms. Said it was a small group of veteran players, some of them in person, some of them via zoom, that took part in the finalist process. You know, to talk.

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Nestor Aparicio  33:30

Did not say Lamar was involved. If he would have said that, that would have been better for us.

Luke Jones  33:36

Did not, but he didn’t say any, he didn’t name anyone. So I think he was treading carefully there. And I think some of that is also, I know there

Nestor Aparicio  33:44

is the part where they don’t answer the questions that you get in the car on a three degree day and try that that really, really frustrated me at a high, high level when I before I got thrown out. It’s one of the reasons they threw me out, because I went to them and said, I’m gonna come out here and spend half my day and then you’re gonna, I’m not gonna have follow ups. I’m gonna, I might get one question and you’re going to whisk people. I mean, that is part of us sitting here and locking for over there, guessing all day at the fan

Nestor Aparicio  34:10

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that they could be more forthcoming, they could be more clear. They’re purposely obtuse, purposely,

Luke Jones  34:19

I do know, and I’m not saying specifically pertaining to this, but I do know there have been times where they’ve commented about Lamar, and that doesn’t always go over well, right, in certain settings, or, you know, whether we’re talking about OTAs or whatever it is, right? So I

Nestor Aparicio  34:34

think the quarterback, he makes $60 million we’re allowed to ask about him, and they should want to answer.

Luke Jones  34:41

I didn’t say we’re not allowed to ask about him, but at the same time, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get it the clearest of answers is my point. And you know, they also have to negotiate some kind of contract adjustment this offseason. So I don’t, I haven’t gotten the sense that Lamar completely checked. Out. And you know, Jesse mentor said he’s spoken to him, have had multiple conversations. You know, whether that’s text, phone calls, zoom, who knows, right? I haven’t gotten the sense that Lamar was completely checked out on the process. I think it’s pretty evident that he wasn’t. He didn’t physically fly to Baltimore and and take part in every single finalist interview or anything like that at the Get your ass up here if you want at the same time. That doesn’t mean he ignored their calls for two two weeks straight, either, right? So I think that it’s somewhere in the middle on that. And as I said to you, I do have a different stance, as much as I’ve been, not as passionate about him needing to be at OTAs when he’s in year three with the same offensive coordinator, or year eight with the same head coach. It will be different this spring, when it is a brand new head coach and it is going to be a new coordinator, and unless they keep team Martin a new quarterbacks coach, right? So I think that will be different. And the same goes for any of those guys, I mean, any of those veteran players. I mean, you know, it’s not like, it’s not as though Kyle Hamilton attends every single OTA, or Ronnie Stanley attends every single OTA, but I think there will be a different expectation that, not that the veterans need to be there for every single voluntary workout of the entire voluntary spring program, but you don’t want it to be where they’re not there. You know that they’re only there one or two days the entire time,

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Nestor Aparicio  36:23

which is a fan, as a media member, as a citizen, as a guy who watches this, as a grown ass man, I like my $60 million leader being a leader, very clear. I like seeing Josh Allen on crutches at a press conference, even though he could have been in Bimini too, if he wished to be, and it was buffalo, if he can make you know, so like, I’m just saying too much is much is expected to whom much is given. And I know for a fact it got John really sideways.

Nestor Aparicio  36:54

John texted me about Lamar not being at practices. I can only imagine how much it upset John. So I and and I don’t know that Jesse Minter knows what to expect from Lamar, other than talking to John, and John saying, you’ll get what you get, pal, and we’re not allowed to call him a diva, because they’ll take your press pass after they take mine. But diva would be where it is when you have $200 million in hardware and your name on the building in Louisville and all of that. That’s all great. I want to see him as pissed off for greatness and wanting to win as Ray Lewis was after he won the second time around. You know that’s what I want to see as a fan, as an investment

Luke Jones  37:39

that has anything to do with showing up for a press conference, though, but well,

Nestor Aparicio  37:42

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just be excited about it. Then tell tell the world that you’re excited about a new coach and getting up here. I mean, working not what we’re talking about, which is what Florio is talking about, is he happy? Is he going to play? Is he going to show up? That’s a big cap number. Can Eric work that deal out? Well, he doesn’t have an agent, but his agent’s his mom, and they have a new coach. And hey, who’s the OC? We don’t even know who that is yet. So that’s today’s that. That’s that catches everybody up on today, and he’s been hurt as well as he healthy. Is he feeling good like all? That’s one of the reasons Lamar wouldn’t show up to something like that, because he doesn’t want to talk to you, right?

Luke Jones  38:18

I mean, he wasn’t going to those others.

Nestor Aparicio  38:21

One less chance in the offseason for him to have to talk to anybody, or do,

Luke Jones  38:27

I mean, I’ll just say this, and you know, he won’t

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Nestor Aparicio  38:29

be doing radio row next week, running around trying to get a Wheaties commercial, because that’s not who he is either, right?

Luke Jones  38:35

Yeah. And, I mean, it comes down to this, nine years into this, he’s not going to be who you want him to be. I mean, it’s just that simple. So that said, go look at the all time leader in passer rating in NFL history, and go look at the leading quarterback rushing yards in NFL history. Zack of a player. And look a lot of what you mentioned that I am more flippant about. Couple things come into play. You have a new head coach, new offensive coordinator, new position coaches, right? You’re coming off of a frustrating year as a team. Yeah, I do want to see Lamar there way more in the spring. I absolutely won’t hide away or shy away from that. You know, attendance at the press conference. I don’t care about that. I just don’t you know, because if you’re going to say that, then we need to take Kyle Hamilton to task, who just got paid, right? And Rokon Smith and all those guys that that are in that group.

Nestor Aparicio  39:30

Well, the owner showed up for the press conference and then didn’t take questions. So, right?

Luke Jones  39:34

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And he was there, though, right? He was sitting, sitting right in the front row. But so, you know, I don’t care as much about the press conference. I you know, if he did not want to be as involved, to the degree that Steve bishati invited him to be, but he was still engaged and took calls, got on a zoom, talked to Jesse Minter, asked him some questions. Does the same thing? With whoever their offensive coordinator is going to be as they wind down that search. That’s fine to me, that that’s okay, but if you’re not involved at all, then it’s a little bit like not voting in any election. It’s like you don’t really, you can’t complain about it. Then if you had a chance to have input, and you didn’t.

Nestor Aparicio  40:15

So let me play old guy and new guy here, because I can play both roles. Old guy would say he’s the quarterback. I don’t, I’m hiring my coach and I don’t. I don’t care what he thinks. He’s part of getting the last coach fired. So he’s an employee. His job is to be an employee and play football. My job is the owners to hire the coach I believe in, and he’s going to fall in line, because that’s what organizations do. Not that easy. It’s not that easy when your lead employs a $60 million employee. And no matter what we talk about here, no matter what color tie Jesse Minter wears, didn’t even matter whether it was Jesse Minter or Joe Brady or Nate Sheila’s or Jim Schwartz, or they can hire anybody they want. Lamar, once the ball gets kicked off in September, he’s going to be all that matters. He’s going to be all that we talk about. Kyle Hamilton could be miles Garrett be the greatest player on Earth. If the quarterback’s no good, or if he’s hurt, or huntley’s playing, or whoever, whatever, Joe flacco’s Our quarterback in week four, then they’re not going to have a chance to do the things that they sat on the podium and talked about the other day because all of this, the low quant, Smith, Tyler, Linder, bomb, Ronnie, Stanley, Derek, Henry, all of that will be overshadowed by all of it if they don’t maximize Lamar Jackson, If they don’t get Lamar Jackson playing at a nine out of 10, don’t have to be an MVP. He has to be an MV. If that doesn’t happen, Jesse Minter is not winning a Super Bowl here. That’s really that’s the league. That’s the story. And we’ll talk about Offense, Defense coordinator who’s calling the plays the little red towel in his sock, and is he gonna get that right? And like he’s gonna have a million decisions to make. So did John? None of them matter when, when Lamar was on Wednesday, I can’t practice today. Coach, tell you deal with the media. You tell him I might be there tomorrow. I might be there if that goes on for nine weeks next year, Jesse mentors not gonna be very good head coach no matter what he does, and it’s

Luke Jones  42:23

about the players and but I would also say, you know, and you know you mentioned John Harbaugh a couple times in the context of Harbaugh losing his job, Lamar Jackson is the biggest reason why John Harbaugh ended up being an 18 year head coach rather than a 10 year head coach, much more in line with what Brian Billick was. Would we agree on that? I mean, 100% so, you know, John

Nestor Aparicio  42:44

Harbaugh had Mike’s quarterbacks the last eight years. John Harbaugh’s asked would have run out of your five?

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Luke Jones  42:50

I was gonna say he would have been gone circa 2017 1819, somewhere in there.

Nestor Aparicio  42:54

It had been going at halftime at week three, when that kid from Pittsburgh couldn’t play.

Luke Jones  42:59

But, but that’s kind of what I go back to, I mean, like Lamar is Lamar, and he’s unique, and they’re going to be things that frustrate you about him, but there are also things that make you go, Oh my gosh, because he’s that special of a town. It’s Jesse Minters job to get the absolute best out of him, right? And one thing that I talked about that that is independent of Jesse Minter, or whoever the offensive coordinator is, or anything like that. I mean, one thing I’ve said about Lamar Jackson that I’m hoping he, as an individual, is embracing the challenge of is going back and looking at this past year and saying, okay, you know, I had a hamster, a bad hamstring injury, and I had all these other nagging injuries on top of that, that, look, injuries are part of the game too. Sometimes guys get hurt, right? And that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an indictment of an individual, right? Ray Lewis worked harder than anyone. Ray had some years where he had some very significant injuries that impacted him, but when you’re looking when you’re being introspective, when you’re looking at yourself and you’re saying, Okay, I’m 29 years old now. I’m not 22 and I’m coming off of a frustrating injury plague, kind of year where from Week Three on, I wasn’t really at my best physically. What can I do? What do I need to do? And it might not. The answer might end up being not much, because it’s not like Lamar necessarily came into camp last year. You know, he wasn’t 10 pounds overweight or didn’t look slow during training camp or anything like that. But it’s just the the natural progression of any human being, let alone a professional athlete, that as you get older, the way that you trained when you were 22 or 24 or 25 compared to now, when you’re in your late 20s and you’re pushing 30, you’re going to have to train a little bit differently. And it’s not even necessarily, oh, you need to work harder, even though, in a very plain sense, yes, but it’s also you might just need to train differently. You know, you might have to be more intentional about. Out making sure, you know, to guard yourself against soft tissue injuries, like a hamstring injury, like he had in not week three, week four, you know, in Kansas City this past year. So, and that’s not a Lamar thing, that’s that’s anyone as they’re getting older. I mean, I’ve cited this to you so many different times. I mean, because it’s something that stuck with me as I was a young football fan. I remember Shannon sharp just talking about it all the time as he got older, the idea that he dropped four or five pounds every off season as he got kind of to the wrong side of 30, to say, I need to do that, because I need to be as fast as I was last year, at least right, let alone like thinking about how fast I was when I was 24 so you know, but that’s the kind of thing that as a professional athlete, if you want to maximize and extend your prime, extend your career, make yourself the best you can be, for as long as you can be that, yeah, you’re going to have to look at things differently as you get older, in the same way that when you’re in your 40s, if you have The same diet that you did when you were 22 chances are you’re 50 pounds heavier, and you’re out of shape, and you don’t look like you, you don’t have that 22 year old Beachbody anymore. So, you know, these are just, it’s aging, right, just in a general sense. So you know, for Lamar to have the year that he had this past year, I’m hoping he’s being introspective, to just kind of look and say, okay, you know, what do I need to try to maybe do a little bit differently? What do I need to be a little more intentional about with my training, so that I don’t have a hamstring issue or this issue or that issue, right? And some of that, again, is, it’s just football. You’re going to get hurt. But if there’s anything he identifies, or anyone that’s, you know anyone at his trainer down in South Florida, right? I mean, you’re hoping that he’s doing those things, and, yeah, I will absolutely take a firmer position this coming spring in terms of, I think it is going to be way more important for him to be around much more frequently in the spring, for his new head coach, for his new coordinator, for his new quarterbacks coach, and for the team collectively when they’re coming off of the season. You know it’s a lot different when you’re talking about what happened in Buffalo last January, right where, for as imperfect as that team might have been, they were literally a mark Andrews catch away from having a chance to, you know, to win that game and go to the AFC title game, and who knows what happens after that, right? So they were close, you know, you can make the argument you were this close when you’re eight, nine. And, okay, sure, I’ll hear that If Tyler, Luke makes the kick, you win the division. Whoop dee, doo, when you’re nine and eight in the AFC north and an AFC north that was not very good, right? In the same way that Pittsburgh, you know, okay, if you want to pat yourself on the back because you won the AFC North this past year. Okay, but the point is, they can’t say they were this close coming off of 2025 I mean, their head coach got fired as a result of of their underperformance as a group. So yeah, I want to see more urgency from Lamar Jackson and everyone on the roster in that way. We’ve talked about it now that John Harbaugh and this coaching staff, that you and I, at times, absolutely talked about not being good enough in various ways. You bring in a new coaching staff. Yeah, I’m going to be looking at the players more closely. I’m going to be looking at Eric di Costa more closely with a new head coach. And you say, all right, John, you know, whatever John thought about personnel, or whatever the coordinators thought about personnel like, Okay, you were the one you You were the one who was leading this search for the head coach. You got a guy that you all feel very good about, great I like Jesse Minter. I think he’s got every opportunity to be a good head coach. Go get him players that are going to help right go improve this roster. I think we all would agree, even you know, you and I debated over the last couple of weeks, even you know, kind of sparred about how talented this roster is. I think it’s a talented roster. Do I think the talent ended up proved to be overrated from where we thought it was in last August? Yeah, of course, I’m not gonna, not gonna shy away from that, but at the same time, I do think they have good players on both sides of the ball, and I do think there’s a good foundation from which to work here, but,

Nestor Aparicio  49:18

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and they’re not changing their system dramatically in any way they hired a hardball guy, yeah.

Luke Jones  49:23

I mean, I mean it like, is Jesse mentors defense going to be different than Zach or Yeah, but it’s going to be similar to Mike McDonald’s, right? I mean, like, you know, so you kind of look at each iteration. I mean, every coach puts his own fingerprints on something, but the defense will be different. And we, you know, they’re not bringing Todd Monckton back, you know, he’s in Cleveland now, so their offense will be different. So yeah, like I talked

Nestor Aparicio  49:46

to Slack, oh at length about that this week, in regard to going into a system and having to learn a new language, which he’s done many, many times, and that is, you’re either good at learning languages or you’re not. And Lamar has had several, you know. Yeah, he had a Greg Roman language and a Todd monk and language. So yeah, he even

Luke Jones  50:03

had Marty morning week for a year, right? I mean, you know, as much as that was kind of the Flacco system, that was the half, the hybrid, what was left of the Flacco system and the Greg Roman principles, right? That they kind of patched, patched together for what that year was, which was fun, but definitely not necessarily the sustainable way of doing it, but, yeah, I mean, it’s, it is going to be new. And that’s, again, that goes to what I said that, yeah, you really, really want him around more frequently this spring. And that goes for everyone, right? That goes for, you know, that goes for zay flowers, who’s going to be entering, you know, a pretty pivotal time for him in terms of, are you going to extend him? You know, what’s that going to look like? All that? So you want it for everybody. Everyone should everyone on this football team. I mean, other than what Jordan stout maybe, and a couple other guys here and there, everyone on this team should have left the building the day after the loss in Pittsburgh. Ticked off, right? I mean, no one wanted to be eight and nine.

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Nestor Aparicio  51:07

Yeah, nothing they did was good enough last year. Very, very few. Probably one of the reasons hardball got fired was Steve didn’t said, nothing’s getting better here, right, right.

Luke Jones  51:16

I mean, like, I said, I mean, Jordan stout and like, look, Kyle Hamilton had an All Pro year, but did I think, like, did Kyle Hamilton get better than he was in previous years? No, like it, there was very little to hang your hat on. So yeah, I kind of hope everyone on the roster from Lamar on down looks at this thing and says, this needs to be better. I can’t wait to get to work in April and May with with the new head coach and fix this thing. Get It Right exactly so, and that you’re not going to it’s not something that’s done overnight, but the work will start here in April. So in the meantime, they still need to get their coordinators hired and position coaches. And you know, we know a couple of the names here and there, and you’re still waiting to see what’s going to happen with these head coach jobs, and then what that means for the OC. So still, a lot of moving parts for Jesse Minter, but it’s funny, we started this conversation talking about the head coach inevitably, and Jesse talked about this a lot in his press conference. Comes back to the players relationships with your players, getting players to buy into what your coaches are coaching. And you want to have a partnership, right? You want everyone to take ownership. It’s not coaches dictating the players. It’s coaches presenting and showing players how we can get better, how you can get better, which in turn, means, one, we can win. Two, you can make more money down the line, because we’re going to make you a better player. And then in turn, the players accept that and buy in, and they take ownership, and they’re doing everything they need to do. If you get that kind of partnership between coaches and players, you’re set up to be a very successful team, and that’s going to be Jesse mentors challenge in year one, and moving forward,

Nestor Aparicio  52:53

he’s Luke Jones. He’s Baltimore, Luke. He’s often frustrated with me. I’m just frustrated because all good we have the seventh question, and you know, that’s anyway, stay warm this weekend. There’s no football this weekend. I promise we’ll have some baseball. Anything baseball again? Anything on your mind at all?

Luke Jones  53:12

8

No, man, I mean, I mean, Fran brevald has watched, has just been and it’s

Nestor Aparicio  53:17

funny, it’s been orange, hot. I’ll give you my 22nd

Luke Jones  53:21

some of these betting sites that are talking about free agent tracking, I have seen the Orioles as high as 99% to sign framber Valdez, and then the next day, it’s back down to 13% and then it’s up to like, it’s like, Where’s this coming from, right? I mean, it’s just crazy, but it feels like he’s waiting for someone to blink to, yeah, and I don’t know, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  53:46

whether, in that extra year, give him that extra 10 million, give that extra I’ll just say that you only get to do this once. You only get to rob the bank once when you’re a pitcher, really.

8

Luke Jones  53:55

I mean, you know, especially, like that kind of deal, right? I mean, it’s one thing that like, if you’re Justin Verlander, so we’ll see. I mean, they still need another starting pitcher. They still need a impact top half of the rotations. Robert Valdez knows that. You know, is that? Because could Zach Allen be that guy? You know, maybe, if you had the conviction that what happened to him last year was more of a blip than regression. But, man, they need another starting pitcher. And I will continue to say, and this hasn’t been talked about as much, they still need another higher leverage bullpen arm. I I like what they’ve done in the bullpen to this point, but like the rotation. It still feels incomplete to me. So I like, I’ve liked their offseason. You know, I’ve liked their offseason a lot. It still feels incomplete to me and well, we’re, we’re inside two weeks now to pitchers and catchers report, especially on the pitching side. You don’t want to be super

Nestor Aparicio  54:49

ball does 201 innings, 166 hits, 198 innings, 166 hits, 176 innings, 140 assistant, 192 innings, 171 one. See here, home runs, under 20 every walks, under 60 strikeouts, hmm, 187 169 200 starts made, 3131 2831 era, 314, 282 345-290-1366, how old is he? 32 right? All right. Let’s see. Born in 1993 now he used Dominican, so you never know what they do with the birthdays down.

Luke Jones  55:32

That’s not quite it’s not quite as bad as it used to be, right?

Nestor Aparicio  55:35

8

But yeah, there you go. 32 years of age. Sabana Grande, Dave.

Luke Jones  55:41

Look if Kyle Bradish is truly all the way back, I’m not sure if Randor Valdez is their true number one, but it’s very obvious. He’s their one, or their one a or their two, right? I mean, he’s clear. So, but at the same time, you’re

Nestor Aparicio  55:53

gonna have to pay up. So hey, the man Rubenstein, what are you gonna do die with all this money? Let’s go. You know, is that good? Is that you may get on him? Give me. Give me another press pass. Sorry, Mark, fine. I didn’t really mean that. Call me, please

Luke Jones  56:06

give me. Give me another starter and give me another you know I, I know they signed a closer I and I like that move, but you need another guy that you can feel good about pitching in the eighth inning or the ninth inning knowing that your closer is not going to be available every single game. So in

8

Nestor Aparicio  56:22

our defense, here at W NST Baltimore positive for all of our press credentials or our crenshole singular, yours not mine, I just want everybody to know I’m trying hard here to make them really angry and give you all the leeway to run like hell for me and say I don’t speak for him, because that’s part of the fun and the charm here, that we allow that. And maybe this will be the 15th year in a row I get to drive you around Sarasota and wave to you as I drop you off at the we’ve only

Luke Jones  56:52

been to Sarasota a couple times, but yeah, we’ll see Fingers crossed.

Nestor Aparicio  56:57

I’m telling you, my mother in law wants to put us up. I’m telling you, it’s, you know. So we’re on our way.

Luke Jones  57:03

8

As I said to you, I keep looking at my weather app and it’s single digit temperatures. I mean, somewhere warm. I mean, my goodness, dude,

Nestor Aparicio  57:11

you’ve never felt the 54 degree morning in Florida. It feels like three degrees. It does, at least to those people. You know

Luke Jones  57:17

what? I’d like to have a problem like that at this point.

Nestor Aparicio  57:21

He is Luke. I am Nestor. We’ll be back here all next week. Joe Flacco is up at Baltimore positive, if you’re listening this weekend, we will be back with a cup of soup or bowl. On Monday, will be fayley’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery at the candy cane cash giveaways. We have a new sponsor in Farnham and Durham. We’re gonna be all over the place with doing cool stuff with H back. We’re gonna be talking about things. Luke’s gonna have a new hat to wear, and I am going to be on Monday, having fadleys. On Tuesday, we’re going to move the show over to El Guapo. And catons only done the show there once before, looking forward to that they have great bizola Over there, great Latin food. Wednesday, we move back to Koco’s Pub. I’m wearing my Koco’s Pub shirt. They’ve been shut down this week. Picked the best week of the year to not be around. Good job, Marcella, but as things warm up, we’ll be back at Koco’s on Wednesday. Thursday, we move the show to Pizza John’s in Essex, which means french fries and gravy for me, and then and that imported ham from Dundalk. And then on Friday, we move up to Costas and Timonium. We’ll be there to end the week, and I’m gonna try to talk Luke into coming down. Maybe we’ll have the purple plumes of smoke for the offensive coordinator by the time we get to next Friday. I am Nestor. We are W NST am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us.