ClutchPoints
When the Baltimore Ravens take the field for Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, they will have someone other than John Harbaugh leading the charge for the first time since 2008.
That’s right, after 180 regular-season wins, numerous playoff appearances, and a Super Bowl win to boot, the Ravens decided to move on from Harbaugh and turn the page in their franchise’s history, but who should the team hire as only their fourth head coach ever?
When it comes to internal options, there really isn’t an obvious choice, with Todd Monken’s offense a big reason why Harbaugh was fired in the first place, and Zach Orr’s defense a notable downgrade from his predecessor, Mike MacDonald. Granted, Harbaugh himself was hired as a defensive backs coach with the Philadelphia Eagles after spending over a decade coaching special teams units around the NFL, but unless they go with a left field choice like Willie Taggart, who was the head coach at South Florida, Oregon, Florida State, and Florida Atlanic before landing in Baltimore as a runningbacks coach and evenetual assistant head coach, the options will mostly come from outside of the organization one way or the other.
Fortunately, there are more than a few interesting external options who could help to set the Ravens up for success into the future, amid their current regime and into the future, when players like Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry are prepping their cases for the Hall of Fame. With a .500 record caliber roster already in place and an opportunity to inject some new blood into a new scheme in both free agency and the NFL Draft, the Ravens have a chance to remain good or even take a step forward in 2026 if they pick the right head coach, of which there are more than a few interesting options around the league.
After saying goodbye to a former Coach of the Year with extensive experience coaching in the AFC North, would the Ravens really consider hiring a coach coming off a four-win season? Nine times out of ten, the answer to that question is probably not, but Kevin Stefanski might just be the exception to that rule.
Coming up in the Minnesota Vikings organization, where he coached one position or another on the offensive side of the ball from 2006-2019, Stefanski has been inarguably the greatest Cleveland Browns head coach this century, and he has the numbers to prove it.
Since being reincorporated in 1999 after the old Browns ironically enough became the Ravens, Stefanski has coached Cleveland to two of their three playoff appearances since, taking the team to the Divisional Round in 2020 and the Wildcard Round in 2023. Stefanski unlocked Baker Mayfield offensively, leaned on Bradley Chubb as his lead rusher, and even made it to the playoffs with another Baltimore connection, Joe Flacco, as his quarterback when many thought his career was cooked.
Is Stefanski perfect?...
