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In maybe the most important move of new coach Jesse Minter’s tenure in Baltimore, the Ravens are hiring Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle as their own offensive coordinator, according to reports.

Doyle, 29, will become the NFL’s youngest offensive play-caller. He’s expected to make his play-calling debut with the help of Ravens star quarterback Lamar Jackson, another 29-year-old who will have his fourth offensive coordinator in nine seasons.

Doyle has only seven years of NFL coaching experience but is a fast riser. Bears coach Ben Johnson, who also serves as the team’s offensive play-caller, made Doyle the NFL’s youngest offensive coordinator at age 28 last January. In Chicago, he was believed to be involved with scouting opponents and helping Johnson prepare game plans.

The Bears this year finished ninth in offensive efficiency, according to FTN, up from 27th in 2024. Doyle reportedly withdrew his name from consideration for the Eagles’ offensive coordinator job Monday.

“Dec’s done a phenomenal job this year,” Johnson, one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds, said earlier this month. “He’s everything I thought he was going to be and some. He’s got tremendous presence in front of the players, extremely smart. He’s picked up the offense quickly throughout the spring and camp and has been able to augment it. ... I think the future’s bright for a guy like Declan. Hopefully, we can keep him here for a long time, but I know he’s been an asset to me, he’s been an asset to our offense and all these players as well.”

Minter, a first-time head coach himself, said at his introductory news conference Thursday that he was looking for “leaders and connectors and relationship builders and schematic expertise” in his search for coordinators. (The Ravens still have openings at defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator.)

Minter said in interviews Thursday that he was looking for an offensive structure that supported Jackson and asked less of him as an improviser. Jackson struggled with his accuracy and sack avoidance at times last season, and his running ability diminished after a Week 4 hamstring injury.

Doyle has ties to some of the NFL’s best offensive minds. He served as an offensive assistant under then-New Orleans Saints coaches Sean Payton and Dennis Allen from 2019 to 2022, following in the footsteps of current Buffalo Bills coach Joe Brady. He also overlapped with current Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, an assistant head coach and tight ends coach in New Orleans from 2016 to 2020.

From 2023 to 2024, Doyle was the Broncos’ tight ends coach under Allen. Before Johnson hired Doyle last year, he called then-Lions offensive coordinator John Morton for insights into his readiness. Morton had served on Denver’s staff as the Broncos’ pass game coordinator.

“[Morton] said, ‘Ben, listen, he’s another Ben Johnson,’ which, I think that’s a good thing,” Johnson told reporters last year. “I’m banking on that being a good thing. Listen, I think he and I are a match made in heaven. He thinks very much like me. It’s been awesome getting him into the building the last few weeks. Extremely detailed. Extremely organized. The age does not matter. He is going to be respected by not only the players but also his fellow coaches as well.”

Doyle, a former standout baseball player, started his coaching career in 2016 as a student assistant at Iowa, where his father, Chris Doyle, served as Iowa’s longtime strength and conditioning coach until 2020. Iowa reached a separation agreement with Chris Doyle after a large group of former players, many of them Black, spoke out about alleged mistreatment in the program.

Declan Doyle said in an “NFL Spotlight With Ari Meirov” interview last year that “football schematics were always of interest to me, even as a young kid.”

“I remember being a little kid and walking into the GA [graduate assistants’] office, and they gave me old playbook pages and writing on them and stuff as a little kid,” he added. “So that was something I was passionate about. All the people I looked up to were football coaches, and so that was really why I wanted to go into it.”

In picking Doyle, the Ravens passed on waiting for Denver Broncos pass game coordinator Davis Webb and Los Angeles Rams pass game coordinator Nathan Scheelhaase, whom they interviewed for their head coaching job. They also reportedly interviewed Detroit Lions wide receivers coach and assistant head coach Scottie Montgomery. Former Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who also interviewed for the job, was never linked to Minter after his hiring.

Doyle will have an impressive list of ingredients to work with in Baltimore, topped by Jackson, running back Derrick Henry and wide receiver Zay Flowers. But the Ravens’ offensive line needs work after an inconsistent 2025, and center Tyler Linderbaum is a pending free agent. The Ravens also fell to 11th in offensive efficiency this past season, limited by injuries to Jackson and a boom-bust attack.

Doyle replaces Todd Monken, who was not expected to return as offensive coordinator after the firing of coach John Harbaugh. Monken, the architect of some of the best offenses in Ravens history, was named the Cleveland Browns’ new head coach Thursday.

This story will be updated.