Why patience, pace and Lamar Jackson are so important to Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken

The first question that Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken fielded at his introductory news conference Tuesday was about why he’d left Georgia, where he’d helped the Bulldogs win two straight College Football Playoff titles. The second, of course, was about Lamar Jackson.

Even as Monken sets out to establish a new identity for the Ravens’ offense, the specter of the team’s unsettled quarterback situation hangs over his every word. Here are three takeaways from Monken’s half-hour session with reporters in Owings Mills.

The offense’s direction is still to be determined

Monken hasn’t been on the job for long. He was hired Feb. 14, arrived only last Wednesday and said he hasn’t had the chance to speak with any players. The offensive coaching staff around him might change, too.

“Just trying to get my feet wet, working through a lot of things that come from staff, what we’re going to do moving forward, all that,” he said. “Just trying to figure out where I’m headed when I drive to the facility.”

He’s also still trying to figure out what his offense could look like in Week 1. Jackson’s contract status is the biggest variable. The draft and free agency have yet to fill out the roster. Offseason development will shake up the depth chart.

But if there’s a connective tissue throughout Monken’s offenses in the NFL and at Georgia, it’s their schematic adaptability. He talked Tuesday about “Air Raid” wide receivers, a nod to his spread-’em-out days at Oklahoma State, and also about the matchup problems Georgia’s two star tight ends, Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington, created for defenses in base personnel last year.

“Just talking ball, and [it was clear] how really great, how extensive his knowledge is, how broad his knowledge is, how adaptable he is, how versatile he is in terms of what he’s able to do with his X’s and O’s and his scheme stuff,” coach John Harbaugh said Tuesday. “So the ability to move in different kinds of systems, different kinds of types of football, different personnel groups … these are all things that you talk about, things that he brings to the table that he’s really very versatile with.”

Harbaugh called it a “player-driven approach.” Considering the skill position talent the Ravens have — and don’t have — Monken’s first offense in Baltimore could be a tight end-driven offense. It could also be a while until Monken knows what that looks like, exactly.

“I think when they say, ‘Adapt to the personnel you have,’ let’s start off with this — everything works better with really good personnel,” he said. He added: “Now, you can only run what you know. You can’t just make stuff up. It’s fun to do that, but usually, it doesn’t work. The reality is that there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but still the principles of how you win are the same.”

Pace and space will be important

For all the records the Ravens broke under former coordinator Greg Roman, the legacy he left in Baltimore also seems to include two indelible, fairly reliable images: the play clock hitting zero with the ball still not snapped, and a pass thrown to an area with two or three receivers within a 5-yard radius. Monken spoke Tuesday as if he knew the fan base’s itches needed to be scratched.

Over the past six seasons — a stretch that predates Jackson’s arrival — the Ravens’ no-huddle rate in non-hurry-up situations (two-plus-minutes remaining in a half) hasn’t eclipsed 5.5%, according to TruMedia. Only six offenses last season used it less than the Ravens (3.6%).

At Georgia, meanwhile, over three-quarters of quarterback Stetson Bennett’s drop-backs last season came after no-huddle play calls, according to Sports Information Solutions. Over 57% of the Bulldogs’ rush attempts were no-huddle calls, too.

“It’s a little bit different, then, because of the dynamics of a signal system, and then the [radio communication] green dot to the quarterback,” Monken said. “So you have to work through some of that. That will take some working through, but it’s a speed bump, not a hurdle.”

With more stress on defenses, the hope is that the Ravens can crank their explosiveness up. The team ranked first in the NFL last season in explosive-run rate, according to TruMedia, generating a carry of at least 12 yards on 11.8% of its attempts. But it finished 23rd in explosive-pass rate (at least 16 yards). Over Roman’s four seasons as coordinator, the Ravens never ranked higher than 16th.

“The game has changed; it’s changing,” Monken said. “At one time, it was taller pocket passers, and now you’re seeing more shorter, athletic players. The game has changed in terms of using their athleticism, using players’ athleticisms, what they bring to the table, because the game is about space. It’s about being explosive. Well, how do you create explosives? Well, part of it is creating space. So, that’s probably the biggest thing, is: How do you find a way to incorporate that into your offense?”

At Georgia, Monken relied heavily on play-action for his “shot plays” and turned to his dynamic tight ends and running backs to turn short catches into long catch-and-runs. With a healthy diet of screens, run-pass-options, empty-formation packages and more, the Bulldogs finished 18th in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season in yards after the catch per reception (6.9), according to TruMedia.

In Baltimore, the formula probably won’t be too different, even if it would be overdue. Over the past four seasons, Jackson ranked 48th among 56 qualifying quarterbacks in the percent of passing yards that came after the catch (42.3%). Huntley ranked 51st (40.5%).

Lamar Jackson’s absence looms large

Monken said all the right things about his star quarterback: “elite skill set,” “underrated as a passer,” “pretty amazing.”

What he didn’t say — or couldn’t say — was anything about how the Ravens might handle Jackson, a pending free agent who’s expected to be designated with the franchise tag if the Ravens can’t agree to a contract extension by March 7. Also mum was Harbaugh, whose comments were limited to his opening remarks.

“First of all, I count on Eric and John,” Monken said. “They’re the best in the business; they’re going to take care of anything that has to do with any player, not just Lamar. Sure, any player that’s part of a roster where you’re going into, you have an interest in what the roster’s going to look like, but ultimately, I wanted to be someplace where structure, organization, great on defense from top to bottom. Everybody I talked to said, ‘You want to be a Baltimore Raven. You want to be a part of that organization moving forward.’ ”

Even if Jackson receives the exclusive franchise tag (the window for using it opened on Tuesday), giving the Ravens more time to work on a long-term extension this summer, the uncertainty will linger throughout the offseason. There’s a chance he could be traded. There’s a chance he could hold out, too, hamstringing Monken’s offseason installation of the offense he’d want to run.

“We’ll cater to what he knows, and play,” Monken said. “It’s like any player. Any player is like that; the more time you spend with them, the more comfortable they get with any system or relationship. That’s a big part of it, and there’s a big part of that relationship from a quarterback-coordinator, play-caller, position coach, where they’re comfortable and there’s a trust.

“That’s a big part of that, and that’s built over time, even beyond individual plays in that comfort of like, ‘Hey, we’re going to give you the keys to this car. Let’s see what you can do.’ That happens a lot more in the offseason — I’m kind of now expanding it — in the offseason is where you experiment. That’s kind of where you kind of let the quarterback have some reins with it. As you get closer to the season, that kind of goes away a little bit. You have to start game-planning and really be dialed into what you’re going to do.”

With a new coordinator and no contract, Jackson finds himself in a bind. If he attends offseason workouts and reports for training camp, he’d forfeit some of the leverage he has in contract negotiations. If he holds out from team activities until August or September, he could enter the season with a suboptimal understanding of the offense. That could hurt not only his value but also perhaps his standing in the locker room.

Harbaugh last month said the Ravens are “200%” committed to keeping Jackson in Baltimore. But Monken’s offense won’t be anywhere close to 100% without him.

jonas.shaffer@thebaltimorebanner.com