John Harbaugh has been coaching the Ravens since Lamar Jackson was 10 years old. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
(Luke Hales via Getty Images)
John Harbaugh is one of the longest-tenured head coaches in the NFL. That tenure is set to last a little longer.
The Baltimore Ravens announced Friday they had reached an agreement with Harbaugh on a three-year contract extension, putting him under contract through the 2028 season. He had previously been set to enter the 2025 season on the final year of his current deal.
Harbaugh has been the Ravens’ head coach since 2008, a span of time in which the team has gone 172-104 with a championship at Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.
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Only Mike Tomlin of the rival Pittsburgh Steelers has been helming his team for longer. Harbaugh’s brother Jim has been hired by the San Francisco 49ers, fired by the Niners, spent nine seasons coaching Michigan and returned to the pros with the Los Angeles Chargers in the time John has been in Baltimore.
In that time, the Ravens have had seven different offensive coordinators and seven different defensive coordinators, with five of them leaving to become NFL head coaches. Four other assistant coaches have also landed a NFL head coaching jobs.
Can the Ravens break through under John Harbaugh this season?
The Ravens are coming off a season that followed a script familiar to other campaigns in which Lamar Jackson was healthy. They looked like one of the best teams in the NFL during the regular season, with a 12-5 record, 11 Pro Bowlers and a historically good offense, then lost a heartbreaker to the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round.
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With another coach, there would probably be louder questions of whether the Ravens need a new leader on the sidelines if they want to win a Super Bowl with Jackson, but Harbaugh’s ring from 2013, won with Joe Flacco under center, clearly has the team still confident in his abilities.
Baltimore is on track to enter the 2025 season once again as a contender, with nearly their entire core from 2024 still in place. Their biggest offseason win was retaining left tackle Ronnie Stanley on a three-year, $60 million deal, and they also added former All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins on a one-year deal.
