ROMAN PROMOTED TO RAVENS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Mornhinweg won’t return
Greg Roman has been promoted to Ravens offensive coordinator, the team announced Friday, marking the end of Marty Mornhinweg’s tenure on coach John Harbaugh’s staff and the embrace of a new era under quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Roman, 46, joined the Ravens in 2017 as a senior offensive assistant and tight ends coach and was promoted to assistant head coach before this past season. He was widely credited with helping to rejuvenate the Ravens’ running game last year with running back Alex Collins and this season after Jackson took over as starter in Week 11.
Roman’s promotion, which came on Eric DeCosta’s first day as Ravens general manager, is expected to solidify Harbaugh’s future in Baltimore. The team announced in late December that Harbaugh would return as coach next season, his last under his current contract, but they have yet to agree to a long-term extension.
Mornhinweg, 56, the offensive coordinator since October 2016 and Harbaugh’s fifth since taking over in 2008, had the option of remaining on a reorganized staff but declined, Harbaugh said in a teamissued release. With Roman’s move, wide receivers coach Bobby Engram will now oversee tight ends, a team spokesman said.
“Increasing Greg’s responsibilities will help us get where we’re going on offense,” Harbaugh said. “His role with our offense has already been significant and substantial. His understanding of the run game we are building — which we saw some of in the second half of the season — and how it integrates with a consistent and big-play passing game is exciting.”
While Mornhinweg ably pivoted from a pass-heavy formula to a run-reliant offense after Joe Flacco suffered a midseason hip injury — the team’s longtime starter led the NFL through the season’s first nine weeks with 379 pass attempts — Roman coached the offense’s most productive group (tight ends) and oversaw its most successful elements. The Ravens’ mix of college spread-style and pro-style running concepts proved difficult to prepare for during the regular season, keeping opponents off-guard and the team’s defense off the field for long stretches.
Over the final seven games of the regular season, the Ravens rushed on over 62 percent of their plays (excluding kneeldowns) and totaled an NFL-best 1,607 rushing yards, over 400 more yards than the runner-up Seattle Seahawks in that period.