Rebuilding An Offense: Ravens Are Bringing In Georgia OC Todd Monken As Their Next Offensive Coordinator
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Yay. One small box checked off in the biggest offseason in franchise history, an offseason that's all about the big box. I don't have to tell you what that box is. It kinda feels tough to get fired up about much of anything until that gets resolved, but this is a positive development. So... yay.
(that's the kind of hard-hitting stuff folks come to Barstool Sports dot com for)
With or without Lamar Jackson, the goal here is to rebuild an offense that has become far too one-dimensional. The run game dominance that Greg Roman brought to the table certainly had its moments, but it had been stale for a while. The progress in the passing game wasn't completely non-existent, but it came far too slow at a time when this team needs to be stepping on the gas. The roster surrounding Lamar (or insert QB here) is one that's close to Super Bowl-caliber, but it was never going to break through and reach the top of the mountain with the way things were going.
Enter Todd Monken. Guy has been around the block a time or two. 57 years old and quite an extensive coaching journey he's taken to get to this point.
What stands out other than a wide variety of OC stints is that he's also got "WR's coach", "passing game coordinator", and "QB coach" littered throughout the resume. Those are the types of boxes we wanted to check with this search.
Did a little bit of digging on his NFL OC experience, as well as his head coaching stint at Southern Miss. It's not going to blow you away for the most part, but there's some good going on here in the past decade:
Head Coach at Southern Miss (2013-2015): Took over an 0-12 team and worked the program back up to 9-5 and a bowl game appearance by his 3rd year. Tells me he can recruit, he can lead, and he can win. Resigned after 2015 to join his buddy Dirk Koetter as OC in Tampa.
OC with the Tampa Bay Bucs (2016-18, including title of WR's coach in 16-17): Led the Bucs offense to 18th, 5th, and then 3rd in total offense in his 3 years. Inherited a 2nd year Jameis Winston in his first year as OC, and worked with Mike Evans throughout. He also helped develop 2017 draftee Chris Godwin, who may be a target for us this offseason. Have to note that the run game was WOEFUL, never clearing an average of 4.0 yards per carry in any of his 3 years. Left after Koetter was let go after the 2018 season.
OC Cleveland Browns (2019): Browns were 22nd in both points and total offense on their way to a Baker Mayfield led 6-10 season where he threw 22 TD's and 21 INT's. Not great. They kicked our teeth in in week 4 though in a game that I'll never forget. This is a team that shoved on the ground with the dual threat of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, picking up 4.8 YPC. Boy did we learn that the hard way, no thanks to Earl Thomas. Almost as if the personnel matters…
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OC/QB Coach with Georgia (2020-22) - 38th, 9th, and 5th in offense in the entire country across those 3 years. Obv won back to back natties and helped Stetson Bennett make a name for himself. Wouldn't shock me if he's a late round pick/UDFA pickup by the way.
There's your background. Doesn't strike me as a home run hire, but his strengths seem to align with areas we want to improve on. That's a plus. Just gotta hope we can retain the run game foundation we've had in recent years. OL coach Joe D'Alessandris is still on staff, which is encouraging. And the sample size might be small, but seems like Monken can run with success when given the tools.
Also, he's got a look to him like he can fire a mean dart through a tight window on a quick slant. Love to see that.
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.This is an awesome quote too from an Athletic article chock full of great stuff from Monken a couple months back.
Intangibles: A+
I know he's not quite what many had envisioned when this search started. Everybody wanted the sexy young hire. The next McVay, the next McDaniel, the next… idk, name another guy on the 2013 Redskins WFT Commanders staff. That would've been great and I would have been all for it. But the OC position would've served as a stepping stone for that person to become a head coaching candidate in short order. Not that Monken can't achieve great things and jump at that same type of opportunity, he just doesn't fit the profile of what teams seem to be after in today's NFL. I'm sure that wasn't a prerequisite of the Ravens' search, but we'll call it a happy accident.
Now that we've got an OC in place, we can start to envision what an offense might look like in 2023. We have to take care of the obvious, but we can also start to sell to WR's and build this thing out. I'm excited to get the ball rolling.