When the NFL offensive coordinator is the same age as the quarterback

The newly minted King of The Castle has begun to assemble his coaching staff and the Jesse Minter organization includes a 29-year old, first-time offensive coordinator and play caller in Declan Doyle, who will be charged with maximizing the efficiency of Lamar Jackson as the Baltimore Ravens retool everything with a new head coach. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss what that might look like with some new personnel, which will be the next phase of the young offseason.

Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Ravens’ coaching changes, highlighting the hiring of Jesse Minter as head coach and Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator. They noted the challenges of integrating young, inexperienced coaches into the team. The conversation also covered the potential departure of center Tyler Linderbaum, who could command a high salary due to his performance and the league’s salary structure. They emphasized the importance of retaining key players like Linderbaum and Marlon Humphrey, and the impact of Lamar Jackson’s contract on the team’s cap space and future plans.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host live show appearances at scheduled local venues this week: Monday at Fadeleys, Tuesday at El Guapo, Wednesday at Koco’s in Larraville, Thursday at Pizza John’s in Essex, and Friday at Costas in Timonium, and include on-site promotion of show sponsors.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Collect community organization and charity stories all week and invite representatives to appear on-air; instruct listeners to email submissions to Nest at BaltimorePositive.com.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Promote and provide on-air shout-outs for new sponsor Farnan and Dermer (include website farnanddermer.com and mention sponsor during sports reporting segments).

Ravens Offseason Plans and Community Engagement

• Nestor Aparicio announces the schedule for community events, including locations and sponsors like GBMC, Maryland Lottery, and Farnan and Dermer.
• Nestor emphasizes the importance of community engagement and invites listeners to share their stories.
• Nestor mentions the hiring of Declan Doyle to run the offense and the involvement of local sponsors like Farnan and Dermer.
• Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the cold weather and the impact of pitchers and catchers reporting on the weather.

NFL Coaching Hires and Racial Dynamics

• Nestor comments on the recent NFL coaching hires, noting the predominantly white male demographic.
• Nestor mentions the hiring of Jesse Minter and the compromise it represents for the Ravens.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the dynamics of the Ravens’ coaching changes and the importance of maintaining continuity.
• Luke highlights the success of the Ravens over the past 18 years and the need for a refresh rather than a complete overhaul.

Jesse Minter and Declan Doyle: New Leadership

• Luke Jones discusses the hiring of Jesse Minter and the challenges he will face as a first-year head coach.
• Nestor mentions the hiring of Declan Doyle, a 29-year-old offensive coordinator, and his inexperience.
• Luke expresses concerns about the newness of the coaching staff and the potential impact on the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the offensive coordinator role and the potential for young coaches to succeed.

Player Contracts and Free Agency

• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of Lamar Jackson’s contract and its impact on the team’s free agency plans.
• Luke highlights the challenges of retaining key players like Tyler Linderbaum and Marlon Humphrey.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of losing key players and the need for a strong offensive line.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of long-term planning and the potential for young players to step up.

Ravens Coaching Staff and Future Plans

• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential coaching staff changes and the importance of experienced coaches.
• Luke mentions the potential hiring of Joe Brady and the impact of other NFL coaching changes.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the importance of the coaching staff in developing young players and maintaining team continuity.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to coaching changes and player development.

Community Engagement and Sponsorship

• Nestor reiterates the importance of community engagement and the role of local sponsors like Farnan and Dermer.
• Nestor encourages listeners to participate in community events and share their stories.
• Nestor thanks the sponsors and emphasizes the importance of supporting local businesses.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the upcoming events and the importance of community involvement.

Player Performance and Team Dynamics

• Nestor and Luke discuss the performance of key players like Lamar Jackson and Tyler Linderbaum.
• Luke highlights the importance of player motivation and the impact of coaching changes on player performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of player contracts on team dynamics and future performance.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to player development and team management.

Offensive Line and Free Agency Strategy

• Luke discusses the challenges of the offensive line and the importance of retaining key players like Ronnie Stanley.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential impact of losing key players and the need for a strong offensive line.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of long-term planning and the potential for young players to step up.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for free agency to address the team’s needs and improve performance.

Coaching Changes and Player Development

• Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of coaching changes on player development and team performance.
• Luke highlights the importance of experienced coaches in developing young players.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for new coaches to bring fresh perspectives and improve team performance.
• Luke emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to coaching changes and player development.

Future of the Ravens and Free Agency

• Nestor and Luke discuss the future of the Ravens and the importance of free agency in addressing team needs.
• Luke highlights the challenges of retaining key players and the potential impact of player contracts on team performance.
• Nestor and Luke discuss the potential for free agency to improve the team and address key areas of need.
• Luke emphasizes the importance of long-term planning and the potential for young players to step up.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Ravens situation, Jesse Minter, Declan Doyle, Lamar Jackson, Tyler Linderbaum, offensive coordinator, coaching staff, player contracts, free agency, NFL hirings, Baltimore community, Maryland lottery, GBMC, Farnan and Dermer, football season.

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SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively up for a cup of soup or bowl. We’re going to be doing it all week long. If you miss Monday at fadeleys, come see us on Tuesday, over at El Guapo and cadence. If we can’t be there Tuesday, come see us on Wednesday. We’ll be at Koco’s down in laraville. Thursday, we moved to Essex and pizza Johns, where I had a delicious supreme pizza on Saturday night with my friend Kate from accelerate and and then on Friday, we’re gonna wrap things up at Costas in Timonium. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. In conjunction with our friends at GBMC, we also have a new sponsor. I’m going to give a shout out to I’m going to have the candy cane cash to give away here. And I tell you what, we have new sponsors, and I definitely want to give some love to that before, and the Dermer have stepped up for us. They’re local, they’re HVAC, they’re right around the corner. You probably have heard of them, if you haven’t, they are the comfort guys. Luke’s gonna be wearing a hat. They’re gonna be sponsoring all of our sports the locker room. Sound all our sports reporting around here is gonna be brought to you by Farnan and Dermer. You can find them at farn and dermer.com Zach will be there, and Luke has your HVAC. How’s I’m warm where I am, but I will tell you I have brought the space heater into the office. Here it is. It’s been a little chilly around here. And I don’t just mean the Oriole signing period, you know, so,

Luke Jones  01:24

yeah, I mean I’ve been looking at the calendar and pitchers and catchers reporting, not because, not even because I miss baseball as much as that just means cold weather. This cold weather will be gone eventually.

Nestor Aparicio  01:35

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They played a hockey game in Tampa on Sunday night, and it was like hockey weather.

Luke Jones  01:39

It was gonna say, I think it was like in the high 30s by

Nestor Aparicio  01:42

everybody had ski caps on, and they weren’t cosplaying. They were just doing it. You know what? I mean,

Luke Jones  01:46

absolutely crazy. I mean, it’s funny. I mean, I’ve mentioned this a couple times to you in passing, but you wake up and you see what the the morning news is, any any coaching hirings in the middle of the night around the NFL? Because we’ve seen some of that. But, yeah, you see single, single digit temperatures early in the morning. It’s like, that’s not working for me. Man. I mean, I know it’s winter, I get that, but I didn’t think I was living in Alaska. So, yeah, the the heat’s been running, and that’s that’s, to say the least.

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Nestor Aparicio  02:16

I think cooped off. I mean, I like, I’m really looking forward to getting out here, getting some crab cakes this week, being with people. We’re doing cherries and community stories all week long. If you happen to hear this early in the week and you are a part of a community organization or charity group, come on out. Tell me your story later in the week. You can email me. Nest at Baltimore positive.com Again, big appreciation. Our friends at the Maryland lottery, I am giving the candy cane cashes away. Our friends at GBMC are taking care of me, keep me healthy as well as farnand Dermer, who are keeping us warm now and in the summer, you know, when it’s 112 every day, we’ll be wishing that we had 12 inches of ice surrounding our homes. Luke, I you know, the hiring period, I pissed everybody off on Sunday by actually just putting a picture of all the white guys that were hired, nine white guys in the son of a Lebanese by the way Mike McDaniel has a African American father. I did not know that he’s now the offensive coordinator of the LA charger. So now that all the seats get filled, I have found it interesting the hullabaloo around Harbaugh, wanting to take monkin to New York with him, having that plan all along. And then it all went awry when monkey got the Browns job that Jim Schwartz thought he was getting, and he walked out of the building. And, you know, the raiders in the Cardinals are not going to win anyway. So I don’t know, what difference does it make, but it has been an interesting hiring cycle. It’s been very, very Caucasian, I might admit, as well. So that’s just a fact in modern America that that’s just the way it goes. If you look at the cabinet of Donald Trump and sort of the ice guys, I I find it interesting that they went through this period and hired nine white guys. I don’t think that was on purpose at all. They are all white billionaire owners, though, so I’m bringing that part of it up. But the hiring of Minter and what he represents here for me, the more I put time and distance into it. I’ve watched the press conference now you and I have fought about the press conference. I’ve watched it twice, actually, just to see body language and see because John was such a tell guy. John led with his eyes, and John was an awful liar, especially a couple years in, when I got Is he being you spoke hardball better than anyone. But the mentor thing, for me, allows this thing to be much more calm than bringing anybody in from the outside. And I think that’s the part that I got out of the press conference. In the end, is they wanted to get rid of John, but they didn’t really want to get rid of John. I mean, they didn’t want to get rid of John. They like John a lot. Eric, like John a lot. They all like John’s thing a lot. I think this is the greatest compromise they can have. They get rid of John so the fans aren’t pissed. Steve, saving a lot of money not having John around. But more than that, it’s it is fresh air, but it’s not new air. As I see it, it’s just not a guy that’s worked for these two guys the last 10 years. It’s the way he’s going to do things. He’s going to do things the way that people in the building are comfortable with.

Luke Jones  05:10

I mean, it’s hard to argue with what they’ve done over the last 18 years, and really longer than that, over the last quarter century. I mean, why would you change everything completely, right? I mean, it, that wouldn’t make sense. I get it. They went eight, nine and 2025 but look at what they did in 24 look at what they did in 23 look at what they did in 22 look at what they did in 20 look at what they did in 19. I mean, go all the way back to Brian Billick in 2000 right? I mean, this wasn’t I never viewed it as something that they needed to completely change things entirely, but at the same time, it is interesting. And you know, not just you, but people that have made that observation have also been some of the same people that lamented losing Mike McDonald. It isn’t exactly the same. It’s someone that’s worked for the hardball. Sure, Mike McDonald worked for the hardballs, but Mike McDonald has gone elsewhere with a different organization that doesn’t have all these ravens roots, and it’s worked there because Schneider is a good general manager in Seattle, right? The whole point is, do you have a good organization or not? Do you have a good infrastructure or not? Do you have competent people running your place or not? And if that answer is yes, then yeah, I get it. You hire a different coach, and you now have someone who’s a defensive minded head coach, as opposed to a special team CEO type. So that’s going to be different. But this wasn’t the browns, for example, or the Raiders, who have just been awful, and have been awful for a really long time, with some few With few exceptions, in, you know, going back decades. So it is a little bit of a different scenario there when we look at Head Coach hirings. And we talked about this from the moment the Ravens announced that Har ball was out, that most teams are firing a head coach because they’ve gone three and 14, or they’ve gone five and 12 three of the last four years, or something along those lines, that hasn’t been the Ravens. So, as I said at the time, and I you know, I said it not in a way to be demeaning, but I said in a way, yeah, they were kind of trading in John Harbaugh for a new, younger model, right? But that doesn’t mean Jesse Minter is exactly like John Harbaugh in the same way that Mike McDonald wasn’t exactly like John Harbaugh. So I think it’s you want to be fair to the new head coach, but at the same time understand that, yeah, they weren’t completely in a position where they felt they needed to rebuild their culture as much as a refresh, right, a revamping, looking at this and saying, Hey, we’re going to get bring in somebody younger. You know, he’s a few years younger than what John Harbaugh was 18 years ago. I think Harbaugh was 45 I think at the time when he was hired as head coach, and, you know, Jesse miners, 42 and you know, what’s been interesting to me is, seeing what the early signs are, as far as the staff and, you know, maybe that’s where we transition into Declan Doyle, who is 29 I mean, you want to talk about young. I mean, there’s young. So by the way, I

Nestor Aparicio  08:11

did the work on him. His dad had an I was Dad had some racist things going on. He got thrown out. He tried to get the job in Jacksonville with Urban Meyer. That would have been a mistake anyway. So he comes from a, like, a real football family. I mean, he grew up around my dude, Kirk ference, all of his life. He’s only 29 ferrets has been there 30 years, yeah.

Luke Jones  08:33

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I mean, it’s, it’s definitely look he’s 29 and I’m not going to shy away from having concern, not about him specifically, but just the general idea of a first year head coach and understanding what all the new that’s going to accompany Jesse Minter, right? Jesse Minter calling the defense. He knows how to do that now. He doesn’t know how to necessarily do that when he’s he has all the head coach responsibilities that come with it over the course of the week, which is why his defensive coordinator higher is still going to be very important. But you at least acknowledge Jesse Minter, called a defense successfully with the Chargers. He did it with with Michigan, right? He’s prepared. He had a one year apprenticeship at Vandy doing that as well. But Declan Doyle is 29 now. He worked with Sean Payton. Go, go look for comments from Sean Payton. He’s a big Declan Doyle guy. He worked for Ben Johnson in Chicago, albeit not calling plays. Ben Johnson was very complimentary as far as how Declan Doyle would set up the week and basically play Ben Johnson throughout the week, until game days on Sunday, when Ben Johnson would continue to call the offense for the bears. So that said, you have a first year head coach with all the newness that Jesse binter is going to go through, and now you have a an offensive coordinator who will be calling plays for the first time at any level. I don’t know about you that sounds very familiar to something we heard two years ago with Zach gore. Now that doesn’t mean I dislike the hire. That doesn’t mean I think Declan Doyle’s not going to do a good job. It just means there’s a lot of new that at least the two most important coaches on this staff the head coach and offensive coordinator, because we know the OC is that important. When you have a defensive minded head coach, they are going to be navigating a lot of new in 2026 and under normal circumstances, like I mentioned, most teams that are hiring a new coaching staff, you kind of say, well, you know, I mean, what are the expectations really going to be anyway? No, that’s that’s not the case for this football team. This is a team that an organization that has every expectation that they’re going to be back to contender status, you know, serious contender status. So that is where I do have some concern that said you hear that you mentioned some of the pedigree, albeit it’s not a extensive pedigree, but Iowa, the Ravens have roots to Iowa with Kirk ference and just how they feel about that program. So clearly, they did some, you know, I’m sure they did some, you know, some intel work on that front. Doyle did good work with the saints. He was with the Broncos. He’s coached tight ends. We know how much Ravens have valued tight ends around here in recent years. As far as their offense, we know how much Lamar likes throwing the tight ends right over the course of his career. So it’s intriguing. I mean, it’s a swing for the fence is kind of a of a higher because you’re thinking that this guy’s going to be maybe the next Sean McVay in that way. But man, in terms of just 2026 in terms of just the short term, that is a lot of new and I’m not going to shy away from that, even if I, even if I’m going to say, okay, you know, I’ll sign off on it. I’m not saying it’s a bad hire or anything like that, but just a lot of unknown there. When you’re talking about a team that you know isn’t the typical team with a first year head coach and a first time play caller and offensive coordinator, so that’s going to be something really interesting to watch. And where I think it’s going to be most interesting now is the rest of the staff. Who else are they hiring? Are they going to bring in some experience, more experienced minds on that staff to mitigate some of that risk? I mean, if you have Declan Doyle as your offensive coordinator, but you bring in, and I don’t you know, a running backs coach who has former NFL offensive coordinator experience, and I’m just saying that as an example. I’m not hinting at it at someone. If you do something like that, then I think that eases some of the concern a little bit. But I’m going to remind everyone that two years ago, the knock on Zach Orr, or the question about Zach Orr being the defensive coordinator was he had never called plays at any level. He had never called a defense even in college, like Mike McDonald had done at Michigan for a year before the Ravens hired him back from Jim Harbaugh. So I do look at that and I say, okay, that’s, that’s something that is going to be worth monitoring, as far as filling out the rest of their staff and what they do. That said, you can find plenty of examples of very young head coaches. I mean, go, look at how go. Look how young John Madden was when the Raiders promoted him the head coach, you know. So I don’t, want to sit here and just say that just because you’re young doesn’t mean you’re going to not going to do a good job or anything like that. But it is a lot of new I’ll leave it at that, in terms of trying to size up exactly,

Nestor Aparicio  13:34

really, with the narrative of the new players too coming. That’s no doubt. That’s the part of this is we’re thinking about the team that was in Pittsburgh three weeks ago. I don’t think there’s going to be an upheaval here, center, left tackle, cornerback, where they are with money, with different people, and then just the Lamar. I’m not absolutely convinced Lamar is going to be the quarterback here in September. I’m not convinced of that until I’m convinced of that until I see it, feel it. See him with Declan Doyle, see him with Minter, see him around, see him at OTAs, see him with a happy contract and saying, I have a happy contract. I’m I’m so thrilled to be with the Ravens bleed at we’re still winning the Super Bowl. I want to see Lamar get young again, because it’s gonna they’re gonna need that. They need him to be the most energized guy in the building. I’ve said that again and again. I’m gonna keep going back to that until he’s the most motivated. He’s the happiest guy. I don’t know they didn’t win the press conference until that happens for me. That’s fair. I mean, it’s perfect. February 2, you know what? I mean, I I get it wake me April 15 before draft, and tell me contracts done. They’re ready to draft. They figured out where Linder bombs going to go and what they’re you know that there’s going to be some methodology here, because you and I are going to be three months breaking that down. It’s over with. They’ve hired the coach. It’s over with, they’ve hired the coordinators. Now it’s like, who are the players for me?

Luke Jones  14:59

Yeah, I’m. That’s fair. I mean, I I’m going to continue to say that the players need to own their part of what’s happened in recent years. I mean, there’s no question about that. I will wholeheartedly reject that it was all because of John Harbaugh or all because of Zach Orr, or all because of Todd Monken, or all because of Greg Roman or wink Martindale, right? I mean, the players ultimately play, so they need to own their part of it as well, right? It’s never just one thing. And that’s not me saying that it wasn’t the coach’s fault, because, yeah, I will hold the coaching accountable, but the players need to be held accountable as well. But I think what’s interesting with the dynamic, and look, everything you said about the contract, yes, until until the contract isn’t an issue, it’s there, but if we’re working under the assumption that Lamar Jackson is the quarterback, which I will continue to work under that assumption, because if he’s not, then we’re having a completely different conversation, because we’re talking about a rebuilding team at that point. So if we’re working under that assumption, you have a 29 year old offensive coordinator who’s the same age as Lamar Jackson, I think he’s 10 months older. Declan Doyle to show you how new and how inexperienced he actually is. His Wikipedia when he was first, when the news first trickled out, his Wikipedia said he was 29 or 30. It did not have his exact birth date on Wikipedia, which, you know, I’m not, I’m just kind of picking on on that idea as much as anything. But it will be fascinating to see one how Lamar responds to someone who is his age. You know, the assumption is Lamar had some input, some level of dialog. You know, how how much or how little it was, is certainly up for debate. But Declan Doyle is worked with some really highly decorated offensive minded coaches, so there’s a pretty impressive, I don’t want to say pedigree, but impressive potential in that way, when you’re talking about Sean Payton. And what Sean Payton meant for Drew Brees, right? What Caleb Williams and the bears offense looked like this past year after being one of the absolute worst in football the year before that, and Declan Doyle’s input there. So I think just the age in general, right? I mean, Declan Doyle was three plus decades younger than Todd moncken, right? So there’s a different dynamic there. So I think that’s that can be a real positive at the same time, is Declan Doyle going to coach Lamar in the way that he needs to be coaching. And I don’t mean, like specifically to Lamar, but just in general, right? When you coach players, there’s the

Nestor Aparicio  17:32

is T Martin out? Okay?

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Luke Jones  17:36

Probably, no, probably, I mean, you know, because there’s, you know, some of the reporting over the weekend. I mean, there was a report that the ravens are requesting to talk to Ronald curry, who

Nestor Aparicio  17:48

was in Buffalo and so Ronald curry the basketball player, well, football and the basketball player, yeah, but, I mean, dude, I was on the radio when Ronald curry came out, 17 years old. He was like, I mean, you know, dual sport phenomenon, I know, but like, he was cover sports. I mean, that’s amazing. What a career, what a live love to have talked to him, by the way, Randy Brown sticking around, huh?

Luke Jones  18:12

Yeah, he is the mayor, you know, the, I guess the kicking, the kicker, Whisperer is going to hang around.

Nestor Aparicio  18:19

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Shocking to me, given that I always thought he was horrible sky always.

Luke Jones  18:23

I mean, well, I mean, it comes down to this. I mean, you’ve been in one place for a long time, and I, you know, I get it, he not saying that he lived two minutes from the facility. And obviously we know he has roots in South Jersey, or whatever, but, or jersey, I don’t know exactly where it is, but it might just be that the Ravens valued him a little bit more, and the idea that, hey, we’ve got this young kicker that is coming off of a very

Nestor Aparicio  18:47

he’s also under contract, right? So this is Eric saying, we’re not letting you out kind of,

Luke Jones  18:51

sort of, I mean, yes and no, because they ultimately let Chris Horton go, though, right? And Chris Horton was under contract, so I don’t, I don’t think there’s, he’s under contract, and they wanted to keep him. That’s different. Well, yeah, sure, sure. I mean, that’s like, the Browns with Jim Schwartz right now, he didn’t want to be there. He’s pissed off, and he’s under contract and, like, like, well, you kind of have to, you have to weigh both sides of it, right? I mean, you have someone under contract, I understand the idea, if it’s someone you value, you’re not going to just let them take a lateral move, a lateral job elsewhere at the same time, if it’s someone that’s not going to be happy. Then Then, then you start to ask, and I’ll and I even mentioned it at the time, if you recall, as we were kind of sizing this up in a much, much more universal way, Randy. Randy Brown was at the Steve bashati presser, if he was completely loyal to John Harbaugh and said, You know what? BLEEP you guys, like you fired my my best friend, then you wouldn’t have expected him to be there. And that, to me, was a tell right there that he was open to staying with the Ravens. So who knows, right? I mean, we’ll see what happens. I think it’s also important with all of these. This with all of these position coaches and coordinator jobs, until they are announced. Let’s also exercise a little bit of caution, knowing that things can change sometimes. So mentors, official, we know that, right, but until everyone else is announced, until all those other chairs, because, hey, I’ll say this. I mean, I have it on pretty good authority that I think the Ravens would have hired Joe Brady to be their offense coordinator if buffalo had gone in a different direction. I mean, I kind of think he was a lot of that

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Nestor Aparicio  20:32

monkey would have been the offensive coordinator in the Giants. Schwartz had his mind on who he was going like. And then the raiders and the Cardinals waiting for the last seats. They still have to fill out dance cards too.

Luke Jones  20:42

So, yeah, so, so that’s where it’s always important to just keep in mind, even if it’s reported, and that’s not doubting Adam Schefter or Rappaport or any local reports in any given market, but things can change. Right? Sometimes you have verbal agreements, and then someone gets a call. It’s like, wait, I’m

Nestor Aparicio  20:59

getting an offer for coaching the jets for five minutes. Remember back in Exactly, yeah, yeah, and then, and then resigned from them. Well, I cost him his Hall of Fame bid last week as well. Luke Jones is here. He is Baltimore, Luke, we can make that argument all day long on the Hall of Fame thing, I want to ask you, on behalf of fans, our listeners, even me, because I don’t talk to you, what is on your mind? What, what’s, what’s first order of business in February, Super Bowl week, dude, you and I would be wiping the snot out of our eyes right now, probably the tequila and the margaritas out of our eyes in San Francisco. We would be at the Moscone Center right now, but I’m doing a couple Super Bowl this week because Chad Steel had me black balled. But I’m happy to be here. But What? What? What would we be talking about, like, to me, it’s Linder bomb, it’s Lamar. Well, we already did that. Yeah, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, Lamar, but we’re, you know, I tried to drag you down to Sarasota in mid March to be your driving Mr. Jones around. You’re like, no, no, no, we got player. It’s going to be free agent week. So we’re five weeks out, five and a half weeks out on free agency. We’re gonna have a football game this week. We’ll talk about the game and all game and all that. Most of the seats have been filled. I mean, position coaches and whatnot around here. But then there’s just like players and what happens to Marlon Humphrey? Where’s Ronnie Stanley and all this? Where’s Tyler linderbaum And all of this? Bateman, you know, just a bunch of names on the roster, what’s on your mind?

Luke Jones  22:22

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Yeah, I mean, I think you kind of hit on it. I think beyond Lamar, and Lamar is one a right now. I mean, there’s nothing else that that approaches that, but the Linder bomb situation is so interesting because one, we know the state of the offensive line, right? The only thing that’s ironclad that you feel good about it for at least the next couple years is Roger Rosengarten at right tackle. And that’s not to say that he’s an All Pro or even a Pro Bowl level right tackle, but he’s the only guy that you feel confident that the next two years, let’s say, borrowing an injury, he’ll be in that spot. Ronnie Stanley. To me, this is the last year you look into him as far as like penciling him in as the left tackle, right? I think, I think this draft, you need to be looking at long term options there. You know, if there’s someone you can draft that maybe plays guard for a year, and you feel could be the heir apparent to Ronnie Stanley, right? So, but you know, you know your your tackles, right? Even if Stanley’s not a long term, that’s still a 2026, you know, you feel that he’s going to be there. But we’ve talked so much about the guard spots. Linderbaum, he had a good year. He did not have a fantastic year. I think we can certainly debate where he ranks among the top senators. Now, let me be very clear when I say that I think he’s a top five center I’m not going to sit here and be disparaging about his play. I think he’s a really good player. However, he’s in a really unique position, because the ravens, if you recall, did not give him the fifth year option. Reason why they did not give him the fifth year option is because the calculations that are done for that are done as offensive linemen, not as centers, not as guards, not as tackles, specifically as offensive linemen. So the problem with that is you take into account all of the tackle salaries that are much higher than any guard or center. So you ended up having a number that is much higher than what the highest paid center in the league is, which, right now, I believe is, I know it’s creed Humphrey. He’s at 18 million per year, the the franchise tag number, or what the fifth year option number would have been that was up in the mid 20s, you know, in terms of salary. So you’re in a position now where he’s close to hitting market. And anytime you’re talking about any player that’s a month or five weeks out from free agency, it can be challenging to keep them from hitting the market. And the. One mechanism the Ravens have for keeping him from hitting the market is what the franchise tag or the transition tag, but, and you know, this isn’t officially set yet, because it’s based on the salary cap, but the 2026 projected number for an offensive lineman, even the transition tag is 25 million, the franchise tag is just under 28 million. So you’re talking about some massive cap, a massive cap number there to just tag him. So ideally, what do you want to do? You want to get a long term deal done? Well, if you’re his agent, you’re looking at that number. You’re looking at what Crete Humphrey and some of the top centers in the league are making. And keep in mind, you know the Creed Humphrey deal, for example, that’s deals a couple years old at this point in time. I want to say he signed that in, I think that was signed in 2024 look how much the cap has gone up since then. So this is going to be, it’s going to be interesting to just to see how much linderbaum truly wants to be a raven, how much his agent truly wants to push in terms of market? Because I look at this in terms of, I don’t see any scenario where you’re not at least making him the highest paid center in the league. And the question is, by how much you know? By how much more is it going to be than 18 million per year? On the flip side, any player, any player, there’s a number for that. You eventually you get to a max where you just say, like, I can’t do that. Other than, do you think they have him slotted in at a number that because they want to keep him? Or do you just think they’ve already thought that the party sailed, and certainly, if Lamar doesn’t re renegotiate, that’s money that? Yeah. I mean, that’s been part of that, right? I mean, that’s where it’s tricky. I mean, I mean, I I don’t think it’s the I don’t feel that they think that the ship has sailed and that he’s going to be gone. But I think there’s some uneasiness about what exactly you do there, because you just look at that tag number, and usually, when you have, when you’re thinking in terms of average annual value for a player, usually the tag is a nice placeholder, right? It’s something that you can just do to buy time. The difference here is it’s so much more than what the top average annual value is for the top couple centers in the league. I mean, pre dumpry is 18. Cam Juergens of the Eagles is 17. Then the next highest paid center is 14, right? So this is really kind of out of whack. It’s why the Ravens didn’t give them the fifth year option to begin with, because that number would have been that high. So, you know, you kind of look at it structurally, and this is why, you know, it’s kind of,

Nestor Aparicio  27:30

you need the player. I’m asking that. I mean, for your money, do you need the player too?

Luke Jones  27:34

I agree with you. I agree because I just think, man, you’re you’re talking about having to basically replace your entire interior offensive line potentially. And okay, I’ll hear you had to use a low one to get him the first time. How are you going to replace it? That’s what I’m saying. I mean, he’s the guy that touches the ball, right? You know, he touches the ball with Lamar in this offense. It’s, I mean, even if we’re, even if you’re going to sell me on the idea that one of those guard spots is going to be a competition between Voorhees and Emory Jones, who will be a second year player as a third round pick this past year. Right? You can sell me on that. That’s still two opening. You know what you could sell me on how much the Ravens declined after Matt Burke left, and how hard it was for Joe flack after Matt Burke left. Fair enough. I’m not gonna Linda bombs, the guy who’s getting better and smarter and you just should be his time, right? Trust him. I mean, he’s a trustworthy player. He’s very much cut from a cloth, similar to Marshall yonda, in that way that he’s not a guy that really enjoys the spotlight. He kind of just goes about his business. He keeps his head down, doesn’t complain to coaches anything like that. You trust them, but at the same time, you still have to figure out, what do you value that as? And again, on the flip side, his agent and him at the end of the day, because obviously his agent works for him. How much is enough? You know, is it going to be just a touch over what creed Humphrey got which, okay, you know, if it’s 19 million a year, then I think Eric can live without that, right? But if he wants 23 man, then you’re starting to look at all your other needs. We ain’t that good. That’s why. That’s when I’ll start disparaging him and saying, dude, he’s not the best center in the league. But I do he’s not domani Dawson, he’s not, yeah, I mean, I don’t think he’s the best center in football, but, but he’s top five, and that’s where you get into the same argument when, you know, when we talked about with Joe Flacco once upon a time, right? If, if you’re in that tier, then if you’re up for the contract, you’re going to get that, you’re going to get that contract right, you’re going to become the highest paid center until the next guy’s up, right? So that’s where it is tough, because, again, normally the the franchise tag serves as, frankly, it serves as leverage that typically helps the team, right? But in this case, that number is so much higher, even the transition tag is so much higher, that you know, if your lender by. Um, you’re kind of looking

Nestor Aparicio  30:00

at a poor job by the Players Association negotiating that. Well, you kind of, well,

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Luke Jones  30:04

it just, it goes back to what we’ve talked about a long time, that

Nestor Aparicio  30:07

because you just screw the center, you’re not really helping them get more money. You’re just getting them cut because they’re not going to go along with it, right? Yeah, it’s a poison pill that teams aren’t willing to swallow, that the players associate so, oh, we’ll throw this in that’ll show them, no, won’t. They’ll just cut your guy

Luke Jones  30:23

well at the same time, they would say. But if that might help him get to market, though. So from that standpoint, it’s good for the player, right? Because it would be good for Tyler Linder bomb to maximize his value with the New York Giants and four other teams are after him then too. So so that it is going to be really interesting, because it does very much feel like one of those where they can’t afford to lose him. However, I also don’t want to view that as the whole you know, a starting center, a franchise center, is not the same as a franchise quarterback or a franchise edge rusher or a franchise shut down number one corner.

Nestor Aparicio  31:01

8

I’ll play his agent, though, and say he does touch the ball every play. He’s a

Luke Jones  31:04

little different. And it would say, Man, did you see what your O line was like with linderbaum last year? Just imagine what it’s like without him this

Nestor Aparicio  31:12

coming year. Lele run around there without him. Well, he’s

Luke Jones  31:16

a free agent, yeah. So, so now I don’t expect him to be back, which will make most fans happy, I think. But yeah, I It’s a fascinating argument, because again, you look at the data points, I mean even creed Humphrey at 18 million a year that that deal’s now going on two years old, the cap’s gone up. Look how much the cap’s gone up since 2024 so I fully expect Linder bomb’s going to become the highest paid center in the league. It’s just gonna be by how much and whom and where’s he right exactly, and, and frankly, and this is, this is where it goes back to him. How much do you value staying with the ravens, or do you not care about staying for the with the Ravens that much? And you want to see what’s out there.

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Nestor Aparicio  31:57

And well, and this is a period of change, so if you know, you’d say, well, to change the coach, they’re making changes. Maybe he doesn’t love Lamar. Maybe he doesn’t love Lamar not practicing on Wednesday. Maybe he wasn’t on horrible a lot.

Luke Jones  32:07

Maybe like John Harbaugh a lot, and the giants are looking for to make a move there. So, you know, I mean, it’s more cap space, yeah. I mean, it’s just interesting. But again, it goes back to what we said, though, if you work out a meaningful long term extension with Lamar, which will significantly lower his cap number, then you’ve got more flexibility. You can look at that and say, All right, we can extend ourselves a little more than we probably would have otherwise for Linder bomb, because we really want to keep them. But on the flip side, if you don’t, and you have to go more the simple restructure route with Lamar, then you’re not going to create as much cap space. And then you look at your roster and say, What are we going to do here? Do we need to make a sacrifice here? And think back to like when the Ravens let CJ Mosley go. For example, they wanted to keep CJ Mosley, but they weren’t going to pay him anywhere what the Jets ultimately

Nestor Aparicio  32:58

paid him. You and I could make a top 10 list. You ought to do this. Top 10 guys. They wanted to keep that they didn’t mostly be in the top five of that. I mean, they went right to the edge with him. There were some other players along the way that they lost that maybe they would have liked to have kept around, but not many. I mean, it might not even be 10 guys. Yeah. I mean, I think in

Luke Jones  33:17

8

30 years really, with that, I think it all comes down to what was your valuation for the guy to begin with. There are plenty of guys that, if there were no

Nestor Aparicio  33:24

Jared Johnson, Jared Johnson, there’s another one. Sure. I’m just trying to come up with names of people that went somewhere else. Didn’t really want to, but kind of had to, because of money. After the Super Bowls, they were always there was a little bit of that in both both times there. Yeah.

Luke Jones  33:37

I mean, you always had some of that. But, I mean, and to be clear. I mean, these aren’t passfail propositions, right? I mean, in an ideal world, you keep a lot of those guys, but you look at what someone is in their final year of their rookie deal, and then they’re hitting market, and you just know that you can’t come close to paying that guy, nor would you actually want to come close to paying what other teams are going to pay for them. But all things being equal, yeah, you’d like to keep them?

Nestor Aparicio  34:00

Well, likely he’s gone right, and Andrews is signed, so they’re and, I mean, they regret that, but they might regret that. You thought they were going to regret roquan The day they signed him. And now we’re getting to the point on the back nine, we’re like, numbers big, and play hasn’t been big, and they’ve had dude at heart. I just opened up the whole can of worms. It was do a whole other segment on this. But at heart, they had a lot of guys didn’t play to their number last year. Of course, yeah. I mean, a lot of guys didn’t play to their number. So, so you can look across the roster and say, who’s where, by the way, Matt abigay had his vague book tweet that went out, right? Yeah. He had a vague book

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Luke Jones  34:38

to his tweet that just said, Good News or whatever, and that was very vague, and that’s why I wasn’t really inclined to just good news could be, I’m gonna live, you know, I could be anything, I mean, and you don’t know. I mean, something could be happening, happening in his family life. You know, a family like, I don’t know, right? I mean, I, you know, you try to sniff around a little bit and, you know, until. Hear definitive good news on that. My default is, we’ve heard so little since September about that that

Nestor Aparicio  35:07

there’s been so much HIPAA on top of it that we’re like, yeah, generally

Luke Jones  35:10

speaking, generally speaking, you’re not hiding good news, right? Typically you’re not hiding good news. So that’s where I look at that and say, and look, let’s be clear, the radar is up on that. The fact that he posted something like that, it leaves you open to maybe they did find some good news, but until we hear something more concrete than Eric to Costa tells me it’s good news. It’s not or until, or until Matt ABK puts out a statement himself. You know, that’s a little more definitive than that, but, but, yeah. I mean, you just kind of look at this and, you know, that’s why you kind of look at the Ravens in general. I mean, it goes back to my original point. You know, I as we’re spending so much time talking about the new coaches coming in, and yes, Jesse Minter, you hope will his defense will bring out the best side of roquan Smith, again, that hasn’t been there. Hasn’t been as apparent the last year or two. So, you know, it doesn’t mean that these guys are all going to look exactly the same. The idea is you’re hoping that these coaches will make a difference. You and I talked about it, you and I both were of the opinion. And clearly Steve bashati was at the end of the day and Eric Decosta was at the end of the day that their coaching wasn’t good enough this past year. So you’re hoping that that changes. You’re hoping that the players take to the new coaches and make the adjustments they need to make, and then, yeah, Eric dicostan needs to make changes and improvements and and augment and to tweak this roster. So, you know, Linder bombs interesting. I think Marlon Humphrey’s cap number is interesting. I like, I think Humphrey, I think there’s a path for him to be back. I don’t think it’s him being back at his current number. So, but what does that look like? Do they transition him to more of a hybrid safety role and and that’s how you take care of your third safety spot that you’re going to need. So a lot of moving parts. It all begins with, you know, obviously, yes, you need to complete the coaching staff, but begins with the Mars contract and addressing that. And then you go to Linder bomb, and then you go to some of the other bigger ticket items. And you know, I’m guessing most of their free agents that are on the docket, as is the case most years, they’re probably going to find jobs elsewhere. But yeah, to kind of go back to the non Lamar questions, the Linder bomb case. I mean, I think that’s a fascinating one. And I think the hope from an organizational standpoint, is that he values sticking around, and he likes playing here, and as long as the Ravens don’t quote disrespect him, right and low ball him, as long as they give him something market, which, you know, I think based on leverage and how he’s played in three Pro Bowls and all that, I think he can make a sound argument to be the top paid center in the league. But if he’s planning on doing what Kyle Hamilton did, which was not just become the highest paid center, but blow that market out of the water, if he’s looking to do that, then yeah, this could be become a much dicier proposition. He’s centered, paid like a left tackle. Yeah, you know, I’m not doing I’m certainly not doing that, and I certainly wouldn’t expect the

Nestor Aparicio  38:08

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Ravens do that. That would make him a Hall of Famer, right? He would have to be in a different level, three

Luke Jones  38:13

Pro Bowls now, but, you know, hey, he’s, he’s a heck of a player, don’t get me wrong. But you know, to me, it’s like, all right, if you want 19,

Nestor Aparicio  38:21

all right, if you I’m just telling you, after they got rid of Matt Burke, I didn’t like the way the offense looked. And I think you it’s important if you get rid of Tyler Linder mom, and you think you’re gonna replace him with a third round draft pick, you know, your guard issues. Yeah, who was the guy from Delaware that they brought Koco’s key? There you go.

Luke Jones  38:38

Pittsburgh. Guy, really good guy. But yeah, that that was not a smooth transition from Burke to him. That’s for sure.

Nestor Aparicio  38:43

Brother was a quarterback as well as I remembered. All right. I’m wearing my planet fitness shirt here because I’m trying to stay in shape. Remind everybody it’s nice and warm inside of Planet Fitness also remind everybody that far and in Dermer, are our new sponsors, the comfort guys out Northwest Baltimore. But they come everywhere, especially on cold days like this. You can give them a call at 410-600-7964, you can find them at Farnan and Dermer. You’re gonna be here in that family owned and operated since 1902 they’ve been doing even longer than coal. Roofing was only 1919, so that’s like a century, almost a century and a half of experience at Farnham and Dermer. We’ll be doing commercials. Take care of our sponsors, take care of local people who take care of us. And I want to give a big thanks to Zach who reached to me about 10 days ago and said, Hey, we own foreign and dormer. We’re local family business. We want to sponsor Luke. I’m like, Okay, let’s do it. So Luke sports reports could be sponsored by farming farnand and Dermer. I’ll be saying that 1000 times over and over again. And our friends at Pizza John’s are hosting us on Thursday, Friday. We’re at Costas. Wednesday, we’re at Koco’s. Tuesday, we’re at El Guapo. It is a cup of soup or ball. It’s all brought to you by GBMC and our friends at the Maryland lottery. Come on out. Get Lucky on a cold week with our friends at the Maryland lottery, we’re going to talk Super Bowl this week. We got some baseball on the mind as we head to Sarasota. And of course, lots of community and share. 30 stories ahead we are W NST AM, 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore positive.