OWINGS MILLS — Ravens assistant coaches Mike Macdonald and Todd Monken are candidates for several head-coaching opportunities.
Each coordinator is open to exploring potential positions, but their main focus is to help the Ravens win the Super Bowl.
Macdonald, the team’s defensive coordinator, has been mentioned for the top job in Washington, Carolina, and Tennessee.
Macdonald has overseen a Ravens defense that finished the regular season as the first team in NFL history to lead the league in sacks (60), takeaways (31), and points allowed per game (16.5).
Macdonald has carved out time after practice to talk to teams about their head coaching openings.
“This is the first time I’m going through it, so not a lot of experience to draw off of, but the way the schedule sets up, you just have to deal with the way it’s structured,” Macdonald said. “So, right now this week, there’s a lot of work that we’re getting done here in the building, not necessarily for future opponents – there’s some back work being done behind the scenes – but our focus right now with our guys is to try to improve and really stay sharp and ramp up and make sure we’re on our ‘A’ game come next weekend.
“So, when we’re here, that’s what we’re focused on and then fortunately, I can try to compartmentalize it and work on the Zooms and things that happen at night, and I’m doing those at my house.”
The Panthers and Chargers have reportedly asked permission to interview Monken, the team’s offensive coordinator, for their head coaching position.
Monken has revitalized Baltimore’s offense and helped guide quarterback Lamar Jackson to an MVP-caliber performance. The Ravens finished the regular season ranked sixth in overall offense (370.4 yards per game) and fourth in points per game (28.4).
Monken has spent just one year in Baltimore after helping Georgia win national championships in each of the previous two years as its offensive coordinator.
Right now, Monken is trying to maintain a singular focus.
“It’s not hard, because I’ll be able to talk about [coaching interviews] at a proper time when it comes up,” Monken said. “The bottom line is we have a chance to do something special here. Our team and our focus is on this week, where we’re headed, finding out this weekend who we’re playing [in the divisional round] and then coming up with a great gameplan giving us the best chance to be successful next week.”
