Declan Doyle says he’ll call plays from the booth for the Ravens this season

Declan Doyle is set to call plays from the booth for the Baltimore Ravens this season, a change the team framed as part of how it will run its defense day to day. Doyle’s role matters because it sets the tone for how the Ravens manage coverage calls, adjustments, and in-game corrections, especially with the speed of modern offenses forcing quick decisions.

The Ravens’ coaching emphasis, according to the team’s notes, is rooted in the way Anthony Weaver and Jesse Minter share responsibilities on the sideline. The club described their relationship as a “yin and yang” dynamic, suggesting a deliberate division of labor even as defensive plans evolve between plays and drives.

For Baltimore, that sideline coordination is central to translating scheme into execution. Weaver and Minter each bring their own strengths, and the Ravens’ approach indicates they want those strengths to complement each other in real time. With Doyle operating from the booth, that further reinforces a layered system, where play-calling, coaching cues, and adjustments work in tandem rather than in isolation.

The Ravens also used their season camp update to highlight Trenton Simpson, focusing on what the linebacker described as the best offseason of his career. For a defense that relies on linebackers to process quickly, the first task is consistency, and offseason preparation is often where that starts. The message from Baltimore’s team notes is that Simpson is entering the season with a level of readiness the staff noticed during the work leading up to camp.

In the same stretch of observations, the organization pointed to Chandler Rivers’ maturation for a rookie. The team’s notes portray Rivers as showing growing command early, and that kind of development matters on defenses that ask younger players to learn both the playbook and the habits of the unit. If Rivers continues that trajectory, the Ravens could benefit from additional stability and depth without needing every adjustment to come from veteran voices.

Taken together, the story reads like a realignment of decision-making and coaching inputs, with Doyle upstairs, Weaver and Minter coordinating on the sideline, and younger players pushing toward operational readiness. The Ravens will still be judged on how well the communication plan holds up against live-game pace, third-down stress, and late-drive situational football.

What to watch next is how Doyle’s booth calls mesh with the sideline responses and whether Simpson’s offseason momentum shows up in coverage and run-fit decisions. Rivers’ progress is also a key subplot, because rookies often distinguish themselves less by big moments and more by repeatable execution across a full defensive snap count.