The more things change the more they seem to stay the same. After the Ravens hired a former staffer to their head coaching role, they’re now seeking to interview another former staffer for their defensive coordinator role. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the team requested to interview Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen for their open defensive coordinator position. 
Cullen is very familiar with the franchise in Baltimore; he spent five seasons as the team’s defensive line coach before landing his first NFL defensive coordinator job. Immediately following the end of his playing career as a star nose guard at UMass, Cullen began his coaching career in 1990, working with the Minutemen’s running backs for a year before taking on oversight of their defensive line.
He then became a bit of an NCAA journeyman, spending time as a defensive line coach at Richmond, LSU, Memphis, and Indiana and earning short-lived promotions to defensive coordinator for the Spiders and Hoosiers. He only served three non-consecutive seasons as Richmond’s defensive coordinator and a single year as coordinator at Indiana. After that lone year with the Hoosiers, he rebounded as a defensive assistant at Illinois before accepting his first NFL coaching position.
Cullen’s NFL start came with the Lions in 2006. When the staff was let go after becoming the first team to go 0-16 in 2008, he rebounded by coaching d-line for a year at Idaho State before returning to the ranks of the NFL. Upon his return, he coached d-lines at Jacksonville for three years, Cleveland for a year, and Tampa Bay for two years before landing in Baltimore.
Cullen’s stint with the Ravens was the longest-tenured job he’s held in his career. He started in Baltimore with a young defensive line featuring Brandon Williams, Timmy Jernigan, Michael Pierce, Brent Urban, and Lawrence Guy, and by his last year with the team in 2020, he was working with Calais Campbell, Derek Wolfe, and Nnamdi Madubuike. Over that span of time, the Ravens never finished outside the top 10 defenses in points allowed and only once finished outside the top 10 in total yards allowed.
His success with the Ravens led to his first defensive coordinator opportunity in the NFL, but unfortunately, that opportunity came under Urban Meyer. Following Meyer’s early exit from Duval, Cullen returned to position coaching and has been in Kansas City ever since, working with one of the league’s most dominant defensive lineman over the years in Chris Jones.
Cullen’s time in Baltimore coincided with new head coach Jesse Minter‘s four-year stay as a Ravens defensive coach. Cullen’s history as a defensive coordinator hasn’t ever extended past even two years, but with Minter likely to still be a heavy influence on that side of the ball, Cullen’s role as coordinator may be a bit more manageable for him than it has been in the past. The Ravens moved on from long-time head coach John Harbaugh, but in searching for the coaches to reestablish the team’s defensive identity, Baltimore has looked to some familiar faces.
Cullen becomes the first name mentioned for the defensive coordinator position in Baltimore. The Ravens’ coordinator of the last two years, Zach Orr, is technically still under contract with the team, but after needing a perfect back half of the season just to finish as a top 10 defensive in his first year as DC and finishing 18th in points allowed and 24th in yards allowed this year, he’s not expected to be retained. He was requested to interview today with the Chargers for the DC position that opened with Baltimore’s hiring of Minter.