Despite not being one of the head coaches who also doubles as a play caller on offense or defense, the Baltimore Ravens' John Harbaugh regularly occupies a spot in the top-10, if not top-five, of every rankings list of the best head coaches in the NFL.
The Super Bowl winner is the second-longest-tenured head coach in the league heading into his 18th season at the helm. Only Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers has been employed by the same team for a longer period of time, as he is heading into his 19th season as the leading man for the Ravens' arch rivals in the AFC North.
While Tomlin receives a lot of praise in the media for never having a losing season during his time with the Steelers, their fans couldn't care less and increasingly grow tired of the team's annual mediocrity.
Meanwhile, Harbaugh has become somewhat underappreciated by the Ravens fanbase, at least on social media; he is rightfully praised by pundits for putting together teams that have consistently been legit championship contenders rather than feisty underachievers.
Harbaugh possesses elite traits that separate him from the pack and regularly has his teams in position to make a run at not only a division title, but a Super Bowl championship.
Here are his top five characteristics in that regard:
Player Empowerment
One of the first and best aspects of the Ravens organization for veterans who join the Ravens from other teams, or players who were originally drafted or signed to the franchise as undrafted free agents, is a player-friendly culture that Harbaugh has cultivated over the years.
He not only gives his players the freedom to be their natural and true selves, but he also encourages it. He doesn't just allow them to have a voice, but actually listens to them and will even include input from them when it comes to roster building and schematic evolution.
After dealing with some of the most bold and boisterous personalities the league has ever seen early on in his tenure with the team, coaching the likes of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs, Harbaugh realized the importance of letting players have a bigger stake in how the team operates. In addition to boosting morale, it fosters an environment of openness and transparency that players who sign in free agency or are acquired via trade are pleasantly surprised by after becoming a Raven.
Harbaugh has been especially prudent when it comes to the empowerment of his franchise quarterbacks, of which he has had two. During the Lamar Jackson era, in particular, he has involved his generationally gifted star signal caller more and more each year, going from calling him the 'engine' that makes the offense go to 'handing over the keys' to calling him an 'architect' of the scheme.
Keen Eye for Coaching Talent
Harbaugh's ability to assemble top-notch coaching staffs on both sides of the ball is not just an elite trait, but it's arguably his greatest superpower. He not only excels at identifying and developing young up-and-comers in the coaching profession, but through his connections and rapport around the league, he can bring in the right experienced coaches as well to balance out and add more seasoning to his staff annually as well.
Both of his first two defensive coordinators became head coaches, and three recent prime examples of this are how he built up and replenished his defensive staff over the past four years.
Harbaugh helped develop Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald into one of the more brilliant and creative defensive minds in the league after seven years on his staff as an assistant, a one-year stint working for his brother in the college ranks, and two years as his play caller from 2022-2023.
Harbaugh's 2023 defensive staff featured three assistants who became playcallers in 2024, with Anthony Weaver and Dennard Wilson being hired as the defensive coordinators for the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans, respectively.
He promoted former undrafted All Pro linebacker Zach Orr to replace Macdonald last year, and when his first season on the job came with some early growing pains, he brought back his Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, as a senior advisor, and the unit became one of the best in the second half of the campaign.
This offseason, Harbaugh parted ways with longtime assistant Chris Hewitt and hired young up-and-comer Donald D'Alesio away from the Kansas City Chiefs to serve as the Ravens' new defensive backs coach.
He also brought back his second defensive playcaller and former NFL head coach, Chuck Pagano, as a senior defensive assistant and secondary coach who also brings decades of coaching experience.
Willingness to Pivot
One of the biggest gripes that fans and pundits alike have against Tomlin is his sometimes undying loyalty to coaches who aren't yielding the desired results, as well as players who are past their prime and can't produce at a high level anymore.
While Harbaugh has stood by and defended several of his playcallers on either side of the ball over the years, he also hasn't been afraid or hesitant to change things up when it became abundantly clear that a new direction or voice was needed.
During the Ravens' 2012 Super Bowl run, he fired offensive coordinator Cam Cameron during the season and promoted quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell. It provided the unit with the spark it needed as it went on a magical run during the postseason, averaging 31 points per game.
The quarterback who was the star of that title run was veteran Joe Flacco, and Harbaugh was supportive of the move to trade back into the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft to select Jackson as his successor. After the Ravens started 4-5 that year, he turned to the rookie and didn't look back as they went 6-1 down the stretch, snapping a three-year playoff drought and claiming their first AFC North title in six years.
During that year, he relieved offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg of his playcalling duties and turned to run game coordinator and tight ends coach Greg Roman to dial up a run-first offense on the fly.
Roman went on to orchestrate a record-shattering offense that led to Jackson being named just the second-ever unanimous league MVP in 2019. Still, when the time to evolve on that side of the ball came, Harbaugh moved on and hired Todd Monken, who has been the orchestrator of one of the most dominant and balanced offensive attacks in NFL history the past two seasons, resulting in another MVP season from Jackson in 2023 and what should've been his third last year.
Innovativeness
Harbaugh hasn't been afraid to think outside the box, go against conventional wisdom and trends or adapt with the times when it comes to how he coaches, fills out his staff and makes in-game decisions.
While Monken had previous experience as an offensive coordinator at the NFL level with the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Ravens hired him from the college ranks after he led a pair of prolific and balanced offenses that helped the University of Georgia capture back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022.
Even though he hails from a blue-blood, old-school football family that preaches and believes in going with one's gut at times and having intestinal fortitude, Harbaugh has been lauded for his willingness to defer to and utilize data and analytics. He has been outspoken about using numbers when it comes to what went into his decision of whether to go for it on fourth down at various parts of the field or attempt a two-point conversion, whether they're up or down on the scoreboard.
After being one of the most injury-riddled teams for a stretch of years at the turn of the decade in the early 2020s, he supported the organization in the overturning of their strength and conditioning staff.
In the two seasons since parting ways with Steve Saunders and promoting Scott Elliott, they've been one of the healthiest teams in the league and were near the bottom of the league in adjusted games lost last season.
Foresight
While Harbaugh is by no means a clairvoyant, he is a visionary who doesn't just see the potential in his players and assistant coaches but is willing to do whatever it takes to set them up for success.
He saw what Jackson could become and now has arguably the best quarterback in the league. He knew that a year of being able to call plays at the collegiate level would help better prepare Macdonald for the big leagues, and the Ravens had the top-ranked defense in the league in 2023. He saw the rise and value of analytics, and now they have one of the best departments in the league.
There was no guarantee that any of these perceived games would pan out in the extraordinary ways they have, but it takes someone with the foresight and belief to make them, and Harbaugh has both, which places him firmly in the pantheon of the top head coaches in the NFL.
He already has a Hall of Fame-worthy resume. After receiving a well-deserved three-year extension earlier this offseason, he is poised to continue to add to it for the foreseeable future.
