While the Baltimore Ravens are shaping their new era under head coach Jesse Minter, it looks like voices from the team’s locker room are already influencing major decisions. Recently, it was reported that Minter has already decided to keep the Ravens’ inside linebackers coach, Tyler Santucci, for the 2026 season. Now, the Ravens are retaining two more familiar faces in their coaching staff, largely because the locker room wanted it that way.

“Ravens retaining S&C Coordinator Scott Elliott and Assistant S&C coach Kevin Hartman. Ravens players voiced support for keeping as much of the S&C staff intact as possible after Harbaugh’s departure,” Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic reported via X on January 28.

The Ravens’ retaining Scott Elliott and Kevin Hartman is a strong message from the locker room: stability matters for the players. According to his bio on the Ravens’ website, Elliott is in his seventh year with the team. As the strength and conditioning coordinator, he gets Baltimore’s players ready for the grind of an NFL season. But before taking over the job in February 2023, Elliott had joined the Ravens back in 2019 as a coaching analyst focused on performance.

Now, Elliott oversees all strength training, speed work, and recovery programs in Baltimore, working closely with the athletic training staff. His responsibilities include injury prevention, energy system development, and recovery, essentially everything designed to keep Baltimore’s players healthy and performing at their peak.

Kevin Hartman, meanwhile, is in his third season with the Ravens and his first as the assistant S&C coach, according to his bio on the team’s official website. After serving as an intern in 2023 and 2024, Hartman earned a full-time S&C assistant role and now works closely with Scott Elliott to prepare Baltimore’s players for the physical toll of each season.

Moreover, after the departure of former HC John Harbaugh, the Ravens’ locker room appears to be looking for balance by still keeping Elliott and Hartman around. Retaining some of last year’s staff preserves some familiarity for the players while the Ravens prepare to embrace a new culture under Jesse Minter. That transition won’t be easy for the Ravens, so it makes sense to hold onto some of the coaching staff members whom the players already trust while bringing in new faces.

The Ravens have already hired two coaches to work under Jesse Minter

While Jesse Minter continues to interview candidates for the coordinator roles under him, the Ravens have already started filling out his group of position coaches. Recent reports revealed that the Ravens have hired Notre Dame defensive backs coach Mike Mickens and Atlanta Falcons offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford to join Minter’s growing staff.

“Can confirm via multiple sources that Notre Dame defensive backs coach Mike Mickens is leaving for a job on Jesse Minter’s staff with the Baltimore Ravens. Mainstay of the Irish staff under Marcus Freeman. Mickens was the primary architect of arguably the nation’s best secondary,” Pete Sampson of The Athletic reported via X on January 27.

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The 38-year-old Mickens spent the past six seasons at Notre Dame, coaching a team ranked third in the nation in pass defense in 2023 and fourth in 2024. He also has a long history with Jesse Minter. The two overlapped twice before in their career, including when Mickens was a player at the University of Cincinnati and Minter served as a graduate assistant during Mickens’ final two college seasons. 

Then in 2012, Minter and Mickens worked together at Indiana State, with Minter as defensive coordinator and Mickens as a defensive assistant. Now, they will reunite again as coaches in Baltimore. With Mickens now on board, Minter will hope he can tighten up Baltimore’s secondary. Even though the Ravens started four first-round picks in their secondary this past season, they still allowed the third-most passing yards in the NFL (4,214). 

Meanwhile, on the offensive side, Jeff Zrebiec also reported on January 28 that the Ravens have finalized a deal with Dwayne Ledford. The 49-year-old Ledford built his coaching résumé in college football before landing his first NFL job in Atlanta. Then, since 2021, he has served as the Falcons’ OL coach for five seasons and added the run game coordinator title in the last two seasons.

With a strong OL in each of the past three seasons under Ledford, the Falcons have finished with a top-10 rushing offense. Now, Ledford will try to bring that same consistency to Baltimore’s OL, which ranked No. 2 in the league in rushing yards (2,662) but struggled with inconsistency at times. Zrebiec also reported that Shawn Flaherty, who worked as Ledford’s assistant OL coach in Atlanta, is joining Jessee Minter’s staff as well.