As Michigan’s Mike Macdonald emerges as favorite, Ravens expected to continue interviews for defensive coordinator job
Interviews for the Ravens’ vacant defensive coordinator position are expected to continue this week, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, even as multiple reports suggest Michigan defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald has emerged as the front-runner for the job.
Macdonald, who served on coach John Harbaugh’s staff in Baltimore from 2014 to 2020, had a strong first season in Ann Arbor. Michigan’s defense finished No. 13 nationally in ESPN’s Football Power Index, after ranking No. 106 in 2020, and helped the program defeat rival Ohio State for the first time since 2011 and win the Big Ten Conference championship for the first time since 2004. Wolverines edge rushers Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo are also expected to be first-round picks in this year’s NFL draft.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, the brother of Ravens coach John Harbaugh, said last year that John had told him Macdonald, 34, would “probably” succeed Don “Wink” Martindale as the team’s next defensive coordinator. Macdonald served as the Ravens’ defensive backs coach in 2017 before coaching the team’s linebackers for three seasons under Martindale, whom the team parted ways with last week.
The Ravens are also expected on Thursday to interview Jaguars defensive coordinator Joe Cullen, who coached the Ravens’ defensive line from 2016 to 2020, according to a source. They have also shown interest in Tampa Bay Buccaneers inside linebackers coach Mike Caldwell, who played for the Ravens in 1996.
Ravens defensive line coach and run game coordinator Anthony Weaver, a former Ravens lineman and Houston Texans defensive coordinator, was also expected to be interviewed for the position, a source said.
John Harbaugh has not been made available to reporters since the team’s season-ending loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Jan. 9. If Martindale’s successor is an outside hire, it would mark the first such move at defensive coordinator in franchise history.