Ravens bring back another former defensive coordinator in a senior advisory role

Chuck Pagano is coming out of retirement to serve as a senior secondary coach on John Harbaugh’s staff.

While the new trend in the NFL is to seek out and hire young, up-and-coming coaches on the rise, the Baltimore Ravens are continuing to pull from an underappreciated talent pool to assist their young defensive coordinator, Zach Orr, who just completed his first season as a play-caller.

On Tuesday night, the team announced that it is reuniting with longtime NFL coach Chuck Pagano, who is coming out of retirement to join head coach John Harbaugh’s staff as senior secondary coach.

“It is exciting to add Coach Chuck Pagano to our defensive staff and continue to develop and grow our young and talented secondary,” Harbaugh said in a statement. “Chuck brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and coaching talent to our team. He has deep ties to the program and is excited to get to work.”

When Harbaugh was first hired by the Ravens in 2008 nearly two decades ago, Pagano was on his initial staff as a secondary coach for three seasons before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2011. He spent the next six seasons as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2012-17 and had a two-year stint as the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator from 2019-20.

The Ravens brought in the coach who succeeded him as the play-caller on defense following his departure from Baltimore, Dean Pees, during the 2024 regular season as senior advisor to Orr. His presence as a sounding board had an underrated transformative impact on the unit that was the league’s worst at defending the pass through the first 10 weeks of the season.

Although the Ravens are retaining Pees as well, he is only staying on in a part-time role. Adding Pagano to aid in the development of a young and talented defensive backfield will be key to its continued growth and evolution. The unit features All-Pros Marlon Humphrey and Kyle Hamilton, 2024 first-rounder Nate Wiggins who was lights out as a rookie and former undrafted free agent gem Ar’Darius Washington who was just as vital to their turnaround this past season after being elevated to a full-time starting role. There’s a strong possibility if not an absolute certainty that the Ravens will add even more young pieces to their secondary this offseason and having a seasoned coach who specializes in those positions is a tremendous asset.

As much as organizations want to get younger coaches on staff, there’s a wealth of experienced coaches available who are talking about and breaking down the game on broadcasts and podcasts who can help teams get better and still have that itch. They’re an untapped resource who are still students of the game while being great teachers of it as well. Ageism may have played a role in keeping offensive coordinator Todd Monken in Baltimore and could lead to the Ravens making an even deeper run next year.

In other coaching staff-related news, on Wednesday, the Ravens have reportedly mutually parted was with assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator Chris Hewitt and inside linebackers coach Mark DeLeone and according to The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec, there “could be more” moves on the horizon.

Hewitt was one of the longest-tenured coaches in Harbaugh’s staff having been with the team since 2012. Meanwhile, DeLeone was hired last offseason and his done after one year on the job in which veteran Roquan Smith his third straight Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro but second-year pro Trenton Simpson didn’t take te leap the team was hoping for and counting on following the departure of Pro Bowler and Second-Team All-Pro Patrick Queen in free agency last year.