John Harbaugh was fired as coach of the Ravens after going 8-9 last season, but he doesn’t think that record reflects the reality of the job he and his staff did.
Harbaugh, now head coach of the Giants, said on Pardon My Take that he thinks the Ravens’ staff was as good as ever in 2025.
“I took a lot of pride in what we did,” Harbaugh said. “I took a lot of pride in this season. I thought, honestly, as a coaching staff, it might have been our best job this year coaching this team. I thought we did a great job. But it wasn’t good enough in terms of getting us where we needed to get for whatever reason.”
Still, Harbaugh says he has no hard feelings for the Ravens firing him.
“If the job’s not getting done, it’s not good enough, they’ll make a change,” Harbaugh said. “I really wasn’t worried about it ever, keeping the job. I felt like at some point in time if they felt like I wasn’t the best guy for the job to do the job then they’re going to put me out of a job, and that’s what they should do if they feel that way.”
Harbaugh said that his agent told him within 20 minutes of the Ravens firing him that multiple teams had called to express their interest. The Giants were first on the list, and now Harbaugh will try to do his best coaching job with the Giants.
Before he was a first-team All-Pro in the NFL, Marcus Peters played at McClymonds High School in Oakland, where he was coached by his father. Now Peters will succeed his father as the head coach at McClymonds.
Peters is the new head coach at McClymonds, where his father Michael Peters retired after last season. Michael Peters spent 33 years on the staff at McClymonds, including 13 as head coach.
Marcus Peters has big shoes to fill. His father won five state titles and went 142-24 as head coach at McClymonds. After retiring from the NFL following the 2023 season, Marcus Peters spent the last two seasons as a volunteer assistant coach to his father.
The 33-year-old Peters was the MVP of the Oakland Athletic League during his senior year at McClymonds. He then played college football at Washington and was a first-round pick of the Chiefs and the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year in 2015. He also played for the Rams, Ravens and Raiders.
“We are excited to see him now step into the role of head coach,” an announcement from the school said. “His experience at the highest level of the game, combined with his deep connection to our school, makes this truly an exciting moment for our football family.”
Ravens defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike injured his neck in Week 2 and did not play again in 2025. General Manager Eric
DeCosta said at the Scouting Combine that the Ravens had no answers about Madubuike’s future.
Jamison Hensley of ESPN now reports that the Ravens have “growing optimism” that Madubuike will return from his injury.
The team has shown hesitancy in discussing Madubuike since his injury.
Madubuike, a two-time Pro Bowler, has two years remaining on a four-year, $98 million extension. His 2026 base salary of $22 million is fully guaranteed, and he has a salary cap hit of $31 million.
From the start of 2023 until he was placed on injured reserve Sept. 27, Madubuike’s 21.5 sacks were the most for any NFL defensive tackle.
Less than 24 hours after the Ravens’ trade for Maxx Crosby fell through, the team agreed to terms with Trey Hendrickson. While on the surface it appeared Hendrickson was the consolation prize, General Manager Eric DeCosta previously insisted the Ravens wanted to add both edge rushers.
That was Hendrickson’s understanding of the situation, too.
“I was looking forward to rushing with him,” Hendrickson said during an appearance on Terron Armstead’s The Set podcast. “Like what an incredible opportunity that would have been to have a bookends like that terrorizing quarterbacks, getting running backs to the ground. That’s what got me excited.”
Hendrickson got his long-term deal from a team he considers a contender. The Ravens signed a much-needed edge rusher, who led the NFL in sacks in 2024 with 17.5.
Hendrickson said he believes he has his best chance to reach the Super Bowl since the 2021 Cincinnati team got there.
“When I look back, maybe I’ll be more appreciative of how special that team was, but right now I’m on the hunt for one thing and that’s to win it all,” Hendrickson said. “I’m incredibly blessed to be in an opportunity representing organizations that have done it. I’m excited to be a part of something that there is potential. When you’re talking about No. 8 [Lamar Jackson]throwing the ball around, like, you know it’s a quarterback-driven league. Sean Payton talked about that when I was a rookie [in New Orleans]. There might be 32 teams, but there’s about seven or eight that can win it all, and we’ve got one of them.”
Former Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles is generally regarded as one of the top prospects in this year’s draft, but his position has led some to wonder just how high he’ll go when the first round gets underway next month.
Off-ball linebackers don’t tend to be among the first picks, but Styles believes he brings more to the table than others. During an appearance on Up & Adams, Styles was asked about comparisons to Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton — Styles was a safety when he got to college — and said he hopes to be used as the same kind of versatile piece that Hamilton has been in Baltimore.
“It just depends what coordinator you go to, what scheme you go to,” Styles said. “Kyle Hamilton is one of those guys that can do a lot all over the field. He’s an amazing player. So, I’d love to be in a scheme where I can do multiple roles and help a defense win. I think what’s nice is when you have a coordinator who’s able to put you in so many different positions and utilize you in that way, it’s helping the entire defense because you become more unpredictable when there’s guys like that on your defense who can do so many different things.”
Hamilton’s rise to All-Pro status came under John Harbaugh, who became the head coach of the Giants after being dismissed by the Ravens in January. The Giants hold the fifth overall pick and Styles could become part of Harbaugh’s plan to turn the franchise around in his first season in his new job.
