The Baltimore Ravens had to make a change at defensive coordinator following the 2023 season after Mike Macdonald left to become head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. The Ravens needed to move quickly to find his replacement because of the interest in their assistant coaches on defense, and they went with inside linebacker coach Zachary Orr.
It wasn’t ideal for Baltimore that Macdonald departed after such a successful defensive season. Still, Orr will be able to come in and run a similar system because of his familiarity with the organization. He talked about how he would build off of Macdonald’s system but add his twists as well.
“We definitely want to build on that. That’s a scheme that we helped build here for years. It’s been a scheme in [the] making. Kind of going back to the point I made earlier; all those questions that you just asked, we will find out in the offseason studies – in the self-scout studies of what we want to do and how we’re going to build on it and what we’ll change up and how we can get better. Like I said, we’re always looking to get better. That’s why you’ve seen great defenses here in the past. That’s what we have to do to continue. You have to look at yourself and look at how you can improve and how you can make that better, and on top of that, staying in front of what’s next. We know it’s going to be something that offenses [are] going to get together and try to present to us new this year. We’re trying to stay in front of that, but that’s part of the process, that’s part of what we’re excited to go do, and we can’t wait to get started on that.”
Macdonald’s system is similar to that of his predecessors, including Don Martindale and Dean Pees. The Ravens’ defensive system is popular throughout league circles and will continue to make its way into other organizations as Baltimore coaches continue to be hired away.