{"id":777358,"date":"2026-02-26T10:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/777358\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:53:21","slug":"jesse-minter-is-focused-on-rebuilding-the-trenches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/777358\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesse Minter is focused on rebuilding the trenches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 25, 2026, 4:57 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/baltimore-ravens\/366\" data-autotag=\"6f9d8950-4e8a-4277-ba96-ee5ce9eb842e\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Baltimore Ravens<\/a>&#8216; need for reinforcements along the offensive and defensive lines was evident throughout the 2025 season. Inconsistent protection and a lack of push in critical moments exposed depth concerns in the trenches, prompting fans to call for upgrades at the trade deadline and on the waiver wire.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">New head coach\u00a0Jesse Minter\u00a0addressed that need at the NFL Combine when asked about the importance of building depth along both lines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;It&#8217;s an O-line [and] D-line driven league. Just look at the Super Bowl winners of the last couple of years; I think that&#8217;s really where you start. How have these teams won that final game? Two years ago, it was the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/philadelphia-eagles\/354\" data-autotag=\"c1b3a094-e294-4a77-b1b2-dbdbd5bfa2c5\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Eagles<\/a>&#8216; O-line [and] D-line driven [year]. This year, Seattle [was the] same deal, so I think that&#8217;s an area that you&#8217;re always looking to get better [at]. I think there are some good pieces there, and so it&#8217;ll be about coaching them up, developing them more, and then adding some pieces to help us get to that level.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Minter&#8217;s comments reinforce a foundational football truth: games in January are often decided at the line of scrimmage. If Baltimore wants to return to championship contention, improvement up front cannot be optional; it must be a priority. Whether that comes through the draft, free agency, or internal development, strengthening both lines will likely define how quickly this new era under Minter can translate into postseason success.<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 25, 2026, 4:57 p.m. ET The\u00a0Baltimore Ravens&#8216; need for reinforcements along the offensive and defensive lines was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[95878,184,117,2282,7,6,169,96963,96964,95882,95898,95895,96684,95906,96191,97233,95977,95884,95883,95881,10374],"class_list":{"0":"post-777358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-baltimoreravens","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-ravens","15":"tag-sstssportsnflravens","16":"tag-sstsnravens","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagbaltimore-ravens","19":"tag-tagnfl-hub","20":"tag-tagnfl-scouting-combine","21":"tag-tagoverall-positive","22":"tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","23":"tag-tagseattle","24":"tag-tagseattle-seahawks","25":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory","28":"tag-wa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116136562133809671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777358","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=777358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}