The Baltimore Ravens hired James Urban as their quarterbacks coach, while Greg Roman was promoted to assistant head coach, head coach John Harbaugh announced Friday afternoon.
Urban spent the past seven years as the Cincinnati Bengals’ wide receivers coach. Prior to that, he was the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks coach in 2009 and 2010, when he helped direct Pro Bowl seasons for Donovan McNabb (’09) and Michael Vick (’10). In 2010, Vick earned NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors and was the NFC starter in the Pro Bowl.
“Playing the Bengals twice a year, we’ve seen what a good job James does,” Harbaugh stated. “He’s highly regarded around the league, including by Ozzie [Newsome] and Marty [Mornhinweg]. We were all excited when he became available.”
Urban spent seven total seasons with the Eagles (2004-10). He was assistant to the head coach from 2004-06 and was the offensive quality control coach from 2007-08. He originally joined Philadelphia in 2003, serving as a coaching intern while employed full-time at the University of Pennsylvania.
“From the outside, it has always appeared to me that the Baltimore Ravens are the preeminent organization in the National Football League,” Urban stated. “They are first-class in every way. I have admired and respected Coach Harbaugh for many years. I was with him as a very young coach when first getting into this league – seeing him as a special teams coordinator and a secondary coach. Then I completed against him on the other side for seven years while with the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I want to win football games, do what it takes to win football games and put people in place to win football games,” Urban continued. “The Ravens are about tough, physical, disciplined football, and those are appealing things to me. Obviously, Marty and I coached together for seven years, and he has guided me in many ways – in terms of what I believe about quarterback play and offensive play. I am really excited to be back with Marty and to go to work.”
Roman, who was hired by the Ravens in 2017 as the team’s senior offensive assistant/tight ends coach, will continue his work coaching the tight ends. Craig Ver Steeg, who has been with the Ravens since Harbaugh’s initial 2008 season, will remain the offensive assistant and continue his deep involvement in game-planning.
