There is another team interested in speaking with Jesse Minter for a head coaching vacancy.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Raiders have put in a request to interview the Chargers’ defensive coordinator.
Minter has also reportedly been requested by the Ravens, Browns, and Titans.
Minter just finished his second season as Chargers defensive coordinator after serving in the same position under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan from 2022-2023. He was previously a Ravens assistant coach under John Harbaugh from 2017-2020, moving up from defensive assistant, to assistant defensive backs coach, and then defensive backs coach.
With Los Angeles’ season ending with last night’s loss to New England, Minter will be free and available for interviews this week.
The Ravens will interview one of their former assistants for their head coaching vacancy on Monday and they’d like to interview another one as well.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Ravens have requested an interview with Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. He also notes that they will interview Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
Former Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is also set to interview with the team on Monday.
Minter was on John Harbaugh’s staff from 2017-2020 and has run defenses for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and with the Chargers for the last four seasons. Weaver was the Ravens’ defensive line coach for three seasons and has spent the last two years in Miami.
The Chargers have advanced to the playoffs in each of their first two seasons under head coach Jim Harbaugh, but they’ve scored just 15 points in two dispiriting losses once they’ve gotten to the postseason.
After Sunday night’s 16-3 loss to the Patriots, Harbaugh wasn’t able to explain why the offense was so flat in New England. He also wasn’t ready to say if the team would consider making a change involving offensive coordinator Greg Roman as they work toward building a team that can hang around the playoffs a little longer the next time around.
“I don’t have that answer right now,” Harbaugh said, via a transcript from the Patriots. “I know you’re being very specific. We weren’t good enough as a team. That’s what we do. We win as a team and we lose as a team that’s my responsibility to have the team in a better position.”
Harbaugh said the Chargers will look at “everything on our team” in the wake of the loss and word of any fallout from that introspection should come in the near future.
The Chargers’ formula for success this season was a strong defense and strong play by quarterback Justin Herbert, but they only got half of that package in New England on Sunday night.
Their defense was the half that showed up. The unit forced two turnovers while holding the Patriots to field goals through the first three quarters of the game, but Herbert and the offense couldn’t get anything going in New England. They punted four times and turned the ball over on downs on the Patriots’ 2-yard line before the Patriots broke the game open with a Hunter Henry touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
Herbert became a sitting duck against a heavy blitz at that point and finished the night 19-of-31 for 158 yards while being sacked six times. He was able to run for 57 yards, but he offered up a blunt assessment of his play in the postgame press conference.
“I didn’t play well enough and didn’t make any plays,” Herbert said, via a transcript from the Patriots. “When it mattered most we didn’t score any points.”
The loss was Herbert’s third in three playoff tries and the quarterback’s play has been underwhelming in each of those trips. Herbert was asked about how confident he is that the team will eventually break through in the postseason.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Herbert said. “I haven’t figured it out yet. Hasn’t happened, so we’ll have to reevaluate and see what happens.”
Herbert did not point to missing both starting tackles or his broken left hand as reasons for this year’s disappointing result. They were certainly factors, but there’s been different factors each season and Herbert’s been the common thread to a narrative that can’t change soon enough for the Chargers.
The Chargers turned in the worst performance of any team in the NFL’s wild card weekend, barely looking competitive in a 16-3 loss to the Patriots. Afterward, head coach Jim Harbaugh said he couldn’t explain why his team scored only three points.
“I really don’t have the answers,” Harbaugh said. “I wish I did. If I did there would have been a different result. We’ll be spending a lot of hard work and sleepless nights getting to figure it out. The way these players fight, they give it their very best, they give it their all, we owe them that. Like I told the team, those that stay will be champions. We’re not looking at this as an end, but as another beginning.”
Harbaugh says he’ll look at everything on the team as he assesses how to be better in 2026.
“We weren’t good enough as a team. And that’s what we do: We win as a team, we lose as a team, and it’s our responsibility to have the team in a better position,” Harbaugh said. :"And a lot of it’s the Patriots, too. The Patriots played very well, they did a good job and I want to congratulate them.”
When Harbaugh was hired as the Chargers’ head coach in 2024, he took over a team coming off a 5-12 season. He’s gone 11-6 in each of his first two years with the Chargers, which is undeniable improvement. But his Chargers are also 0-2 in the playoffs. He doesn’t have the answer for why that’s the case, but he knows he needs to figure it out.
