Chris Hewitt Departs Ravens. The Ravens saw significant turnover in their defensive coaching staff last offseason, losing defensive line coach Anthony Weaver (now Dolphins defensive coordinator), defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson (now Titans defensive coordinator), and former defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald (now Seahawks head coach). This left their defensive unit heavily impacted by departures. To counter this, Baltimore promoted inside linebackers coach Zachary Orr to defensive coordinator in an effort to keep him, though a slight decline was expected due to the number of staff members who left.
The Ravens weren’t anticipating a decline in pass defense, for example. Although defensive coordinators expressed interest in pass-game coordinator and secondary coach Chris Hewitt last offseason, as they did with Wilson, Weaver, and Orr, Baltimore was able to keep Hewitt by giving him the extra position of assistant head coach. Unfortunately, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Ravens and Hewitt “agreed to mutually part ways” after the team’s poor pass defense crippled them for the first ten weeks of the season.
Heading into the season, the Ravens’ secondary was regarded as a defensive strength. They bolstered it by signing veteran safety Eddie Jackson in free agency, drafting rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins, and bringing back nickelback Ar’Darius Washington from injury. Additionally, starting safeties Kyle Hamilton and Marcus Williams, along with cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey and Brandon Stephens, were all retained. With such strong depth, the Ravens planned to use Washington in the slot and Hamilton as a versatile defender across the field, enabling them to regularly use a productive dime personnel package.
Regretfully, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Williams and Jackson both finished the 2024 season among the NFL’s ten worst safeties, marking significant regressions. Stephens had a similar bad season in 2024, finishing 100th out of 118 players in the league in terms of PFF cornerback rankings and being targeted a lot as a result. Despite having the strongest rushing defense in the league, Baltimore’s defense finished dead last in total defense after ten weeks.
The team eventually managed to totally turn things around, but it did so by benching Williams and cutting Jackson. This gave Wiggins additional outside opportunities by moving Humphrey more into a nickelback role and moving Hamilton and Washington back into safety positions. As a result, the defense finished the final seven weeks of the regular season at the top of the league in most categories, but it seems the damage was already done.
Hewitt’s tenure in Baltimore ended after the 2024 season got off to a rough start. Since his initial employment as defensive backs coach in 2012, Hewitt had remained in Baltimore. He was elevated to pass defensive coordinator for two years after serving in that capacity for eight years, and then he was promoted to secondary coach for two more years. He replaced Weaver as assistant head coach for this season, which was his first and only one.
Fortunately, Hewitt has recovered swiftly. Hewitt’s appointment as the Colts’ pass game coordinator and secondary coach was announced by the NFL Network reporter three days after Pelissero’s original report. Hewitt will be working with just his second NFL team in his lengthy coaching tenure.
Hewitt will take over for defensive backs coach Ron Milus, who was fired. He joins linebackers coach James Bettcher and defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo as new members of the Indianapolis defensive staff.
