OWINGS MILLS, MD. — Greg Roman, the architect of the Ravens’ record-setting running game but also a lightning rod for fan criticism when the Ravens’ offense scuffled, especially in early postseason exits, is out as the team’s offensive coordinator after four seasons.
Roman’s agency revealed on Jan. 19 that Roman would be leaving the team “to pursue other opportunities,” the news breaking about 90 minutes before head coach John Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta held a previously scheduled season-ending news conference.
“The things he accomplished here were pretty historical,” Harbaugh said. “There were records set here in the National Football League that are going to stand for a long, long time. So, we’re all really proud of those things. Greg’s a great coach, and he did the best he could every single week.”
In a statement via his agency, Roman thanked Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and Harbaugh, whom Roman said he respects “as much as any head coach I have worked alongside. I learned a lot working for John and will carry those lessons forward.”
The Ravens finished 10-7 this season, advancing to the postseason as a wild-card team, and lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, 24-17, in the first round of the playoffs. It marked their third trip to the postseason in the past four years, but they won just one game in those three playoff appearances.
Starting quarterback Lamar Jackson missed the final six games this season, including the playoff loss, with a knee injury, the second straight season in which he missed extensive time. Jackson sat out the final four games last year with a foot injury.
Harbaugh now must undertake a search for a new offensive coordinator — the seventh of his 16-year tenure — with uncertainty swirling about Jackson.
Jackson’s rookie contract expires in March, and he and the team shelved long-term extension talks before the season began. The Ravens are expected to apply the franchise tag by the March 7 deadline if an extension is not in place.
At their season-ending news conference, dominated by questions about Jackson, Harbaugh and DeCosta repeatedly stressed that they envision Jackson as the team’s quarterback for the foreseeable future.
Harbugh said there is a “200 percent” chance he wants Jackson to be the Ravens’ quarterback going forward.
“Lamar Jackson is our quarterback,” Harbaugh said. “He’s been our quarterback. … I’ll have my fingers crossed, and my toes crossed, and I’ll be saying prayers. I have every faith that it’s going to get done”
Asked whether he expected Jackson to be the team’s starting quarterback in Week 1 of the 2023 season, DeCosta said, “I don’t see any reason why he won’t be.”
That would be welcome news to whoever assumes the role as offensive coordinator. Quarterbacks coach James Urban and wide receivers coach Tee Martin are considered top internal candidates, but Harbaugh said he expects a deep talent pool that will include outside candidates as well.
“This is going to be a highly sought-after job,” he said. “This is one of the top football coaching jobs in the world. Everybody’s going to want this job. So I’m looking forward to getting started. … We’re going to look far and wide and close. We’ll get the best fit for what we’re trying to accomplish.”
According to the league’s Rooney Rule, designed to create a more equitable and diverse hiring process, at least one minority must be interviewed for any coordinator positions.
Harbaugh said Jackson would be involved in the hiring process.
“I’ll keep him abreast of what’s going on, and I’m sure he’ll have input along the way,” Harbaugh said.
Roman, 50, came to Baltimore in 2017 with a reputation as one of the game’s most innovative offensive minds, especially in the run game. As the offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-2014, he reached the Super Bowl — losing to the Ravens after the 2012 season — and advanced to the NFC title game three years in a row.
Moving to the Buffalo Bills in 2015, Roman directed that offense to a league-best 152 rushing yards per game that season.
He was hired by the Ravens in 2017 as a senior offensive assistant and tight ends coach, then promoted to offensive coordinator in 2019 after the departure of Marty Mornhinweg.
With the singularly-talented Jackson established as the team’s starting quarterback in 2019, Harbaugh vowed that the Ravens would unveil a “revolutionary” run-first offense orchestrated by Roman and operated by Jackson, and although that drew some snickers at the time, the early returns were magnificent.
In 2019, the Ravens set an all-time NFL rushing record with 3,296 yards, rolled to a 14-2 record and earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Jackson was named the league’s Most Valuable Player.
But the Ravens were stunned by the Tennessee Titans in their first playoff game that year, and after another early playoff exit in the 2020 season, wide receiver Marquise Brown said the offense needed more balance, noting that the Ravens ranked No. 1 in rushing but dead last in passing.
Brown, a former first-round pick and one of Jackson’s closest friends on the team, requested a trade after the 2021 season, saying he didn’t feel Roman’s offense was a good fit for him, and the Ravens dealt him to the Arizona Cardinals this past spring.
The Ravens never suitably replaced Brown, and presumed No. 1 receiver Rashod Bateman suffered a season-ending foot injury early this past season. The Ravens’ wide receiver group went 11 games without a touchdown catch and proved to be among the least productive in the league.
Again reflecting the imbalance Brown had been critical of, the Ravens finished this season ranked No. 2 in rushing but No. 28 in passing. They also struggled mightily in the red zone throughout the second half of the season and wound up ranked No. 30, converting 45.8 of their red-zone trips into touchdowns.
Another early postseason exit — albeit with backup quarterback Tyler Huntley, who had been thrust into a starring role over the final six weeks — turned up the heat on Roman and led to more questions about the viability of the run-first approach in a league that has skewed heavily toward the passing game in the past two decades.
The early postseason exits also raised questions about the ceiling for this approach, but DeCosta dismissed that idea.
“When we look at the team, and when we look at the roster, we see the talent that we have, I think John Harbaugh and I are both encouraged that we have the potential to build something that’s sustainable over a long period of time,” DeCosta said. “We can win a lot of football games — we’ve seen it — and we can go very far in the playoffs [with] John as a head coach and with the right players on the field.”
Harbaugh said that in the wake of Roman’s departure, the team’s offensive identity largely would remain unchanged, though he left the door open to schematic adjustments.
“We’ve established an identity for our offense,” Harbaugh said. “I think everybody knows that who plays against us. … That’s an identity that we’re going to carry forward.
“Within that, the schemes that you run, the formations, the type of players you put out there, that’s all kind of methodology,” he added. “You kind of work through that as you go. … Nothing’s set in stone. Nothing ever stays the same. Everything changes. Everything evolves. You have to keep moving. So we’ll definitely keep it moving in ways that fit the players that we have, but it will definitely be within the identity that we have for our offense.”
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