Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh walks off the field after being defeated by Cincinnati Bengals 34-17 at Paul Brown Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
The Baltimore Ravens are trying to assemble an offensive coaching staff akin to the Seattle Seahawks “Legion of Boom” or the Denver Broncos “Four Horsemen”, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier today that former Houston Texans head coach Gary Kubiak is now the favorite for the Ravens offensive coordinator vacancy. It looked like it would be a two-man race between favorite Kyle Shanahan and safe, internal candidate Jim Hostler, but Kubiak has come out of the blue. Schefter also reported that Kubiak is looking to bring two of his former OCs in Shanahan and Rick Dennison with him on the Ravens staff, and it sounds like we should expect the Ravens to go into the 2014 season with a ridiculously talented staff. I mean, Shanahan, Kubiak, and Dennison are three of the league’s greatest offensive minds.
Per a source close to the Baltimore Sun’s Aaron Wilson, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has actually spoken with Dennison “during the past few days”, and this is interesting since it came before this report from Wilson’s colleague at the Sun Mike Preston, who reported that Harbaugh was a “non-factor” in the potential hiring of Kubiak.
Based on Preston’s report, it seemed like the talk of Dennison joining as an assistant was solely the result of Kubiak looking to bring his “guys” with him to the Ravens. It looks like there’s more to the story than just the Ravens owner and GM running the show, especially since it is unlikely that Harbaugh spoke with Kubiak’s former offensive coordinator without knowing that Kubiak was a candidate for the job.
At this point, it looks like the Ravens have a very good chance at landing all three offensive geniuses, and that monster trio looks even better with a guy like Harbaugh at the helm. The rival Cleveland Browns desperately need a strong offensive coordinator, but their talent pool would be severely cut down if all of those guys join the Ravens.