The Baltimore Ravens offense needs a lot of work done this offseason. First and foremost, they have to find a way to keep Lamar Jackson in town for the foreseeable future. But even if he stays, he's going to need some help. That's why the Ravens recent hiring of Todd Monken as their new offensive coordinator is such an encouraging sign.
After a blazing hot start to the season, Jackson and the Ravens offense cooled off significantly down the stretch, before Jackson suffered a sprained PCL in Week 13 and was forced to miss the rest of the season. You can make an argument that things only looked as bad as they did because Tyler Huntley was pretty awful during his time under, but the offense was stalling out even when Jackson was playing.
Baltimore needed a big change on the sidelines this offseason, and they went out and got one of the most experienced offensive coaches they had available to them. Monken has a superb track record of fixing offenses, and for a Ravens squad looking to keep Jackson in town, this hiring should prove that they mean business this offseason.
Todd Monken is exactly what Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense needs
Monken has spent most of his time as a coach in the collegiate level, but he's had prior stints in the NFL where he has had great success. And it's also worth noting that pretty much all of Monken's experience comes while working on the offense side of the ball. Considering how Monken has been coaching since 1989, he has a wealth of experience that should help the Ravens out.
Most recently, Monken has been the offensive coordinator with Georgia for the past three seasons, helping lead them to back-to-back National Championships. Even with a good but not great quarterback in Stetson Bennett, Monken created an offense that simply could not be stopped last season. Now, he will be looking to do something similar with Baltimore's offense.
With Georgia, Monken excelled at creating favorable looks on offense for Bennett and his playmakers to take advantage of. In Baltimore, Monken is immediately going to have one of the best offensive weapons in the NFL in Jackson, assuming the team does keep him around. Giving Monken a weapon like Jackson appears to be a rather dangerous proposition.
During his previous stints in the NFL, Monken coaxed strong seasons out of mediocre passers such as Baker Mayfield (317/534, 3827 YDS, 22 TD in 2019) and Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2018 (5,358 combined passing yards and 36 combined touchdowns). Jackson is easily one of the best quarterbacks Monken will have worked with, if not the best quarterback.
While the Ravens might not necessarily have the weapons to help Jackson right now, Monken should be able to turn this offense around either way. Just go take a look at what the Philadelphia Eagles offense did in a losing effort in Super Bowl 57. Jalen Hurts was unbelievable, and while A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith are a far better wide receiver duo than Rashod Bateman and Devin Duvernay, the point still stands.
Expect the Ravens to lean even heavier into an RPO offensive scheme than they already are. Hurts took massive strides as a passer this season, but entering the year, no one would have said he was a better quarterback than Jackson. Hurts benefitted from being given the freedom to make plays with his legs, but also from the fact that the Eagles offense was designed to create easy looks for him.
That's precisely what Monken just did at Georgia and his previous stops as well. Jackson doesn't have a fantastic supporting cast, but Mark Andrews is one of the best tight ends in the league, and the ground game, led by Jackson, JK Dobbins, and Gus Edwards, remains extremely dangerous. If Baltimore can bring in another good wide receiver at least, this offense is going to be very dangerous.
Monken's track record shows that if there's anyone that can turn this offense around, he's the guy. He has taken decent quarterbacks and made them look like stars. Look at what happened to Mayfield and Winston in 2022. Jackson is far better than those guys, which makes the potential of this offense scary.
Upgrading personnel for Monken and company is going to be crucial still, and of course, this is all contingent on Jackson actually re-signing, but the Ravens needed to make a strong offensive coordinator to prove that they mean business this offseason. They have done just that by hiring Monken, and if Baltimore can make a couple more strong moves this offseason, they will emerge as one of the top contenders in the AFC next season.
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