The Ravens have a brand new coaching staff and perhaps the most exciting hire within that staff is offensive coordinator Declan Doyle. He'll bring over an offense that is likely to feature a lot of what you've seen Ben Johnson make so prolific in both Detroit and Chicago. Lamar Jackson will be under center more often and will have an opportunity to create some massive chunk gains from play-action opportunities.
Dave Richard has ranked all 18 new play-callers from worst for Fantasy to best, and we're going team by team through his rankings to see how your perception of every key player should change before Fantasy football draft season. Up next at No. 6: Declan Doyle and the Ravens.
Who's new?
Declan Doyle gets his first chance to be a playcaller after spending a year in Chicago, two years in Denver and four in New Orleans. He's spent the majority of his career with Sean Payton.
What's expected this year?
Based on interviews with Doyle and Ravens GM Eric DeCosta, it sounds like the Ravens will be smart and build around Lamar Jackson. They also figure to be more TE-friendly, giving up a fullback in exchange for more tight ends on the field. Doyle was responsible for implementing halftime adjustments in Chicago, something the Ravens struggled with last season. Doyle has also preached creativity in play design, which we've seen from Payton and specifically Ben Johnson's offense last year. Though Doyle has never called plays, only one of the seven years he's been around has the offense he's been on thrown more than 56.3% of the time. And because he's been around Payton, there have been six of seven seasons where running backs had at least a 21% target share, and four where tight ends had at least an 18% share -- and six where wideouts had a 59.2% or lower share.
Winners and losers for Fantasy
Jackson should be the primary benefactor of the innovative play designs Doyle draws up, particularly as a thrower. If it's as clearly laid out as it was for Caleb Williams last year, and if Jackson's arm can find its form from 2024, then he should dazzle. Injuries may have limited Jackson as a runner (5.7 attempts per game in the 10 he played most/all of the snaps in), so we'll see if he can recoup some value there. And I know the coaches who have been around Doyle have leaned heavily on running backs in the passing game, but it's something Henry hasn't been asked to do a lot of. Losing a fullback in front of him is a little problem, too. Without fullback Patrick Ricard on the field last year his rushing average dipped by 0.9 yards and his rush EPA took a nosedive. The same thing happened in 2024. Tight end Durham Smythe might be asked to pick up some of that blocking slack, but it otherwise dings the 32-year-old's efficiency. One player I'd be a little excited about is Mark Andrews. We already know he's been reliable for Jackson through the years; now he's paired with a playcaller who used to coach tight ends and has been around some productive ones throughout his career. I wouldn't expect a lot of explosive plays from Andrews, but it wouldn't be shocking to see him second on the team in targets.
