I left the Steve Bisciotti-Eric DeCosta news conference last week convinced by the owner that while the Ravens would interview some young first-time head-coaching candidates, they were not inclined to dismiss failed head coaches in trying to find their next John Harbaugh.
While that seemed like a sound plan, two of those coaches are already off the board. Kevin Stefanski and Robert Saleh have landed in Atlanta and Tennessee, respectively.
By my count that leaves Mike McDaniel, Matt Nagy and Brian Flores as former head coaches who have interviewed with the Ravens.
Former Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is reportedly set for a second interview with the Ravens. Should he not land the job, he may very well end up with the Giants as Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator.
That still leaves Joe Brady, Klint Kubiak, Jesse Minter and a few other names as possible finalists.
For an organization that stressed this was the right time to part with Harbaugh, I still can’t get over that it wasn’t the right time after the 2023 season when they could have had their pick of Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel or the guy in the building, Mike Macdonald.
Now the Ravens are faced with the previously mentioned list of coaches, but suddenly another very solid name has been dropped in their laps. The Bills just fired Sean McDermott, who put up a 98-50 regular-season record in nine seasons as the head coach in Buffalo.
McDermott had won four of his past five games against the Ravens, including two playoff victories in Buffalo. So, if the guy who was good enough to beat your guy four of the last five times, why shouldn’t he rise to the top of your list?
Is it McDermott’s 8-8 postseason record? Well, I can understand if there would be a little hesitation that you’d simply be hiring another Harbaugh, maybe minus the friend stuff.
But seriously, while I can’t recite chapter and verse every Bills loss that contributed to his 8-8 postseason mark, I never remember feeling McDermott got outcoached again and again the way Harbaugh seemed to get outcoached every January by Andy Reid, Mike Vrabel, and yes, McDermott.
I doubt that Biscotti would ever love McDermott like a brother. And I also doubt McDermott would become DeCosta’s new best friend. But with the Lamar Jackson clock ticking, I wouldn’t want to hand the keys to the house over to an unknown. As such, I think Sean McDermott should be the Ravens’ next head coach.
I doubt very much that Biscotti is going to try to play this in a penny-wise, pound-foolish fashion. McDermott was making $8 million annually in Buffalo, but he knows his value on the open market. I think a five-year, $75 million deal would work for both sides.
And I’ll bet he makes no demands to only deal with the owner.
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