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On Thursday, Ravens coach Jesse Minter will step to a lectern inside the Under Armour Performance Center for the most important of his least important battles. Or maybe it’s the least important of his most important battles.

An eager fan base awaits. Now, can Minter win the press conference?

Thursday’s session with local media will help set the narrative for the next phase of the Ravens’ offseason renovation, defining the kind of coach Minter hopes to be and the kind of team he hopes to build. There will be photo ops. There will be sound bites. There will be plenty of questions about quarterback Lamar Jackson.

There will not, however, be much predictive value. Thursday’s presser will matter less than the coaches he fills his staff with, the culture he sets and the players he builds a supposed Super Bowl contender around. Thursday’s presser might not matter at all.

Almost exactly a year ago, two first-time head coaches spoke at their introductory news conferences. Their performances were appraised differently. In Florham Park, New Jersey, New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn, a former Jets star coming off an impressive run as the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator, commanded the room.

“Put your seat belts on and get ready for the ride,” he said. “We are the freaking New York Jets, so we’re built for this shit.”

In North Florida, a shorter quote prevailed: “Duuuuu-vallll.” Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen’s cringeworthy, singsong rendition of the team’s signature chant was memed and mocked for days, blotting out much of the meaningful discourse around his arrival.

A year later, the news conferences seem like stagecraft, full of sound and fury (and raised eyebrows), signifying, well, next to nothing. The Jets went 3-14 in their first year under Glenn, whose first offseason has been another ride, complete with a near-total purging of his staff.

The Jaguars? They went 13-4, won the AFC South, hosted a playoff game for only the second time since 2018 and retained Coen’s two rising-star coordinators.

“You walk out of there and, ultimately, every quarterback, former quarterback, has a cadence. And it’s just me learning a new cadence, right?” Coen said of his awkward “Duval” shout-out during a June appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “The good thing is … it’s been able to connect with the fans, because every opportunity they get to correct me has been pretty consistent. So great opportunity to connect with the fans of Duval County.”

Wins speak louder than words to fans, no matter how ill formed they may seem. Lions coach Dan Campbell talked about biting kneecaps in his introductory presser, lost 13 games his first season, then went 45-23 over his next four years. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was nervous, stumbled over his answers and talked a lot about “systems.” He’s been to the playoffs in all five of his seasons in Philadelphia, winning Super Bowl LIX in 2024.

Minter might happily flub a sentence or two for results like that. But he seems well suited for the big stage and bright lights. Players and coaches he’s worked with over the years have commended his unflappable approach to the job. Minter’s experienced, too, having met regularly with the media in his two seasons at Michigan, one of the nation’s most scrutinized programs, and in two seasons as the Chargers’ defensive coordinator.

In his first presser with Los Angeles-based reporters in February 2024, Minter was more interested in describing his process than in setting expectations. “I really think defensive football is 50% of what you play and 50% of how you play,” he said.

On Thursday, Minter will be judged for what he says and how he says it. But the final word on his hire is years away.