{"id":761296,"date":"2026-02-19T00:02:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/761296\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T00:02:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T00:02:37","slug":"afc-notes-declan-doyle-mike-rutenberg-browns-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/761296\/","title":{"rendered":"AFC Notes: Declan Doyle, Mike Rutenberg, Browns, Ravens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Browns hired Mike Rutenberg as their new defensive coordinator following his time as the Falcons\u2019 defensive pass game coordinator. Atlanta DC Jeff Ulbrich<\/a> highly praised Rutenberg, calling him one of the \u201cbest teachers in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best teachers in this league,\u201d Ulbrich said, via Josh Kendall of The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cHe understands the back end at a PhD-plus level. He\u2019s a huge part of our success back there. Whether he gets a coordinator job this season or next, it\u2019s inevitable. He\u2019s too good a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic<\/a> takes a look at the Ravens\u2019 top 10 impending free agents:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zrebiec ranks C Tyler Linderbaum<\/a> atop his list, noting that he will have a lot of demand on the open market. Zrebiec expects him to eclipse Chiefs C Creed Humphrey<\/a>\u2018s $18 million annual salary to become the league\u2019s highest-paid center.\u00a0
\nZrebiec has TE Isaiah Likely<\/a> at No. 2, writing that he\u2019s proven he can be a\u00a0\u201csignificant weapon\u201d as a pass-catcher. Zrebiec thinks it\u2019s hard to rule out his possible return, given that he\u2019s close friends with Lamar Jackson<\/a>.\u00a0
\nWith OLB Dre\u2019Mont Jones<\/a>, Zrebiec believes Baltimore could take \u201can even bigger swing\u201d at the position. Still, Zrebiec could see Jones getting a solid contract as a free agent.\u00a0
\nZrebiec is interested in seeing whether P\u00a0Jordan Stout<\/a> can demand a contract similar to Seahawks P Michael Dickson<\/a>\u2018s $4.05 million annual deal.\u00a0
\nRegarding FB Patrick Ricard<\/a>, Zrebiec wonders if the fullback is viewed more as a \u201cluxury\u201d than as a necessity.\u00a0
\nAccording to Zrebiec, people around the league identified TE Charlie Kolar<\/a> as someone who could get paid more than expected in free agency.\u00a0
\nAs for CB Chidobe Awuzie, Zrebiec thinks dependable cornerbacks are difficult to find and that the veteran could be signed to a manageable deal.\u00a0
\nAlthough S Alohi Gilman<\/a> has experience under new HC Jesse Minter during his time with the Chargers, Zrebiec expects the safety to have options on the open market.
\nIf Baltimore lets Gilman walk, Zrebiec wonders if they will consider bringing back DB Ar\u2019Darius Washington<\/a>.\u00a0
\nRegarding QB Tyler Huntley<\/a>, Zrebiec could see him being targeted by several backup-needy quarterback teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ravens\u2019 new OC Declan Doyle is the league\u2019s youngest offensive coordinator at just 29-years-old. Doyle thinks his youthfulness will help him connect with players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI view it as an advantage,\u201d Doyle said, via Clifton Brown of the team\u2019s site.<\/a> \u201cBecause I\u2019ve grown up in the same world as some of these guys, I\u2019m able to connect with them maybe a little bit easier than it might be for somebody who\u2019s 20 years older than a player. I\u2019ve never viewed it as a setback. It\u2019s actually something I\u2019ve found that\u2019s been a benefit to me. Knowledge is power. If you can help a player, they really don\u2019t care where you come from. They don\u2019t care how old you are. If you can help them advance their career, if you can help them advance our team and goals, they\u2019re willing to listen, and they\u2019re wide open to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle is confident that he will establish trust with QB Lamar Jackson over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat trust is going to be earned through time,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I can call up Lamar and say, \u2018Hey, I need you to trust me.\u2019 We\u2019ll earn that over time, and it\u2019s really going to be a two-way street. He\u2019s got to earn my trust [and] I have to earn his trust, and that goes for every player that we have. It\u2019s a huge piece of what we envision here. Trust is built off communication and accountability to that communication. Accountability is us saying something and doing what we say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle comes to Baltimore after being the Bears\u2019 offensive coordinator in 2025 under HC Ben Johnson. Doyle says that his new role will allow him to put his \u201cown spin\u201d on things, unlike his duties in Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy role last year was to support Ben, support the rest of the staff, make sure I was giving ideas,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cBen may have had other things going on as the head coach. You were setting the table to where he could come in and most of the work was already done. The difference here is being able to put your own spin on some of those things. This is really a collaborative thing with myself and our staff. This is our offense. This is the 2026 Baltimore Ravens. This is what we want it to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?<\/p>\n

Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors<\/a> on X.com<\/a>\u00a0and FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Browns hired Mike Rutenberg as their new defensive coordinator following his time as the Falcons\u2019 defensive pass…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[1717,5193,184,117,2282,1035,4699,4689,783,7738,9441,10559,7,4698,2662,10097,32361,895,9886,7646,6,18505,169,1762,7427],"class_list":{"0":"post-761296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-alohi-gilman","9":"tag-ardarius-washington","10":"tag-baltimore","11":"tag-baltimore-ravens","12":"tag-baltimoreravens","13":"tag-ben-johnson","14":"tag-charlie-kolar","15":"tag-chidobe-awuzie","16":"tag-clifton-brown","17":"tag-creed-humphrey","18":"tag-declan-doyle","19":"tag-dremont-jones","20":"tag-football","21":"tag-isaiah-likely","22":"tag-jeff-ulbrich","23":"tag-jesse-minter","24":"tag-jordan-stout","25":"tag-lamar-jackson","26":"tag-michael-dickson","27":"tag-mike-rutenberg","28":"tag-nfl","29":"tag-patrick-ricard","30":"tag-ravens","31":"tag-tyler-huntley","32":"tag-tyler-linderbaum"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116094367868347543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}