The Ravens announced multiple coaching moves on Monday, including the hires of offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford, secondary coach Mike Mickens, and game management coordinator Charlie Gelman.
Baltimore will also be retaining linebackers coach Tyler Santucci, who joined the staff last year. In his debut season, he was instrumental in the development of rookie linebackers Teddye Buchanan, Jay Higgins, and Chandler Martin.
Buchanan became the rare Day 3 inside linebacker to emerge as a reliable starter
as a rookie. He was named to the PFWA’s All-Rookie team at the end of the season. Higgins and Martin, both undrafted free agents, impressed in training camp and the preseason with Higgins earning a 53-man roster spot as a special teams contributor. He thrived in that role until he suffered a knee injury in November which sidelined him until the last two games of the year. In the interim, Martin filled Higgins’ special teams snaps until he went down with a torn ACL. Buchanan also tore his ACL; neither is likely to be ready to play at the start of the 2026 regular season.
As a result, Santucci will once again be tasked with identifying and coaching up a running mate for Roquan Smith. Internal options include Higgins and 2023 third-rounder Trenton Simpson, who opened the 2025 season next to Smith but lost his job to Buchanan. With so much money already tied up in Smith’s contract, it would not make sense to invest in a veteran linebacker in free agency, but the 2026 draft class seems to be strong at the position.
Santucci is only 37 years old, but he has already amassed an impressive amount of coaching experience. He was a star linebacker at Stony Brook and took a coaching job there after finishing his education. He then spent the next 15 years working at seven different college programs. Santucci primarily worked with linebackers with coordinator stints at Texas A&M (2022), Duke (2023) and Georgia Tech (2024).
