Todd Monken Recognized by Defensive Peers As One of NFL's Top Offensive Play-Callers
The Ravens' explosive offense is loaded with established stars and ascending players, but the man who devised the scheme and calls the plays also deserves credit for the unit's success.
Todd Monken, in his third season as offensive coordinator, has been recognized by his defensive peers as one of the NFL's best play-callers. Some regard him as the best.
The Athletic asked six defensive coordinators and defensive assistant coaches from around the league to rank who they thought were the top 10 play-callers in the league. Monken placed seventh in the voting.
Monken arguably should've been higher in the rankings, but the Ravens' star-studded offense caused some of the coaches to downplay Monken's impact.
"A couple of coaches left him out of the top 10, but he also received two first-place votes," The Athletic's Ted Nguyen wrote. "The Ravens have weapons, notably Derrick Henry, and a top-three quarterback in Lamar Jackson. Some coaches believe it's not hard to call plays with that sort of advantage, but Monken was hired to take Jackson's game to the next level, and he's accomplished his goal. Jackson had a career year in 2024, throwing for 41 touchdowns and running for another four. They had the highest explosive play rate in franchise history and scored 30.5 points per game.
"Monken has done a tremendous job mixing personnel groupings and creating a diverse package of plays for each grouping."
One AFC defensive coach said: "It's like defending three different offenses when you actually go up against it. Because there's all these different pieces and he uses them well, and he combines those together to just stress you in completely different ways. First, you have to have a sound game plan against their two-back sets and then they can go to 11 personnel, and now, there's all the speed out there and it's the RPO game that you got to deal with … that whole nightmare of things."
In The Baltimore Sun’s Brian Wacker’s recent profile story on Monken, he said the offense has been "staggeringly historic" the past two seasons.
"In 2024, Baltimore became the first team in NFL history to top 4,000 yards passing and 3,000 rushing in the same season," Wacker wrote. "It led the league in yards per game (424.9) and was tops in offensive defense-adjusted value over average (35.1%), per FTN Fantasy. Quarterback Lamar Jackson had career highs in passing yards (4,172) and touchdown passes (41), while running back Derrick Henry boasted a career best in yards per carry (5.9) en route to the second-most rushing yards (1,921) in the NFL.
"The year before, in Monken's first year as the architect of the Ravens' offense, Jackson won his second NFL Most Valuable Player Award and Baltimore reached the AFC championship game. All of which begs the question, what will the third act provide?"
Pundits Make Bold Predictions for 2025 Ravens
The Baltimore Banner’s Jonas Shaffer and Giana Han made 10 bold predictions for the 2025 Ravens. Here are two that concern the postseason:
The Ravens will beat the Chiefs in the playoffs.
"At some point, the Ravens will have to figure the Chiefs out. And if not this year — after two years of incredible growth by Jackson and ahead of the steep jump in his salary cap hit — then when? The Ravens have most of their starters returning, and they all have significant playoff experience under their belt. They have continuity among their coordinators. They brought in good, young talent through the draft. It's always hard to win a Super Bowl, but after being perennial playoff contenders, the Ravens need to find a way through Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid."
The Ravens will get to the Super Bowl.
"They should have a top-five offense. They could have a top-five defense. They usually get top-five special teams play. That's enough to beat most teams in the NFL, and beat them handily. Of course, Ravens superteams have fallen short before. … Maybe 2025 will be another year of what-ifs. Or maybe, just maybe, the Ravens will finally look like the playoff team that everyone expects them to be."
Jackson, Mike Green Picked to Win Major Awards
You say you want more predictions? Here are a couple regarding Ravens players winning individual awards.
NBC Sports' Chris Simms likes Jackson to claim his third MVP this season.
"These four quarterbacks – Lamar, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes – it's as good a four quarterbacks at the top of the league as you're ever going to find in the history of the sport," Simms said on the "Up & Adams" show. "These four are a step above everybody. They're unbelievable talents. They can carry their team, they can run an offense, they can be surgical. They can do it all. I'm picking Lamar Jackson to win the MVP."
CBS Sports’ John Breech predicted second-round outside linebacker Mike Green will win Defensive Rookie of the Year.
"Last year, I correctly predicted that Jared Verse would win Defensive Rookie of the Year, and this year, I'm jumping on the Mike Green bandwagon," Breech wrote. "A front seven player has won this award in seven of the past nine years and Green will keep that trend going.
"The easiest way for a defensive player to win this award is to rack up sacks and Green is in the perfect division to do it. He gets to face Aaron Rodgers, who has been sacked more than any other QB in NFL history. He gets to face Joe Burrow, who took the fourth-most sacks in the NFL last year. And he gets to face a 40-year-old Joe Flacco, who might be the least mobile QB in NFL history. Also, the two most sacked quarterbacks in the NFL last season were Caleb Williams and C.J. Stroud, and the Ravens will face both of them. Basically, this is the perfect storm for Green to possibly win this award."
Undrafted Rookie Trio Gets Kudos
Green certainly looked the part during preseason action, but some of the Ravens' less-heralded rookies also made positive impressions.
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso named an all-rookie team based on preseason performance. In addition to Green, two Ravens undrafted rookies – linebacker Jay Higgins IV and cornerback Keyon Martin — were selected.
"Higgins didn't test well after an illustrious career at Iowa but demonstrated his elite-level instincts in a long audition during the preseason," Trapasso wrote. "Higgins was impactful as a blitzer, snagged an interception, and recorded 10 tackles without a miss on 91 snaps for the Ravens.
"Martin is a small, Ar'Darius Washington type in the slot for the Ravens. Hailing from the Louisiana program, Martin took part in 10 tackles, knocked away one target, and had an interception."
Like Higgins and Martin, defensive back Reuben Lowery III made the 53-man roster as an undrafted rookie. Lowery was among The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue’s list of “future hits,” which she defined as under-the-radar players who are worthy of notice.
"Lowery impressed coaches throughout training camp with his football IQ and competitive drive," Rodrigue wrote. "He also consistently made plays on the ball at just 5-foot-9 and 204 pounds. He was a mechanical engineering major at Chattanooga and was in the rocketry club."
