Ravens’ Lamar Jackson on New OC Todd Monken: ‘I’m Glad He’s Listening to Me’

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is happy with his new offensive coordinator, Todd Monken.

“It’s great,” Jackson said during the broadcast of Saturday’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk). “I’ve been sending him plays of stuff I’ve been seeing, and he’s been putting them in practice, and they’re working. So it’s like, I’m glad he’s listening to me, man.”

Monken is the third offensive coordinator Jackson has had with the Ravens since being drafted in 2018, following Mornhinweg (2018) and Greg Roman (2019-22). The latter stepped away from the team this past offseason.

The Ravens had plenty of success under Roman, finishing top-10 in yardage twice and top-10 in points twice. They also were top-three in rushing yards in all four of his seasons, as Roman helped construct an offensive system around the dual-threat ability of Jackson.

The 57-year-old Monken was brought on to replace him after a lengthy coaching career that included stops with the Jacksonville Jaguars as a receivers coach (2007-10), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an offensive coordinator 2016-18) and the Cleveland Browns as an offensive coordinator (2019).

He also served as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State (2011-12) and Georgia (2020-22) among his many gigs in the college game.

And thus far, the transition in Baltimore seems to be going well. At least from Jackson’s perspective

“The meeting room—I wish you guys could see the meeting rooms,” he said Saturday. “He’s full of expressing what he’s got going on in his mind. His mind is everywhere. It’s like, ‘I love you as a coach right now.’ You know, I’m grateful for him.”

Monken’s offense will be expected to stretch the field more vertically in the passing game, and the Ravens have the weapons to do so in wideouts like Odell Beckham Jr., Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman out wide and star tight end Mark Andrew across the middle.

And everybody seems to be enjoying the new system.

“I love it,” running back Gus Edwards told reporters. “We’ve shown a lot of flashes, got a lot to work on. He’s finding a lot of ways to get guys open, ways to spread the ball around, I’m excited to see how it all pans out.”

Edwards added that it’s given the running backs a chance to work against less defensive players in the box. Jackson might appreciate that extra room to work and the ability to make plays in space this season, too.