Jesse Minter's first game as an NFL head coach comes against a Saints team that closed last season on a four-game heater behind Tyler Shough. Neither club wants to open with an 0-1 hole.
Share
Show fees
SUN SEP 20 · 1:00 PM ET
Spread
ML
Total
Saints
Ravens
This one's built around two quarterback situations at very different stages. Shough gets his first full training camp as the unquestioned starter after going 5-4 down the stretch of a 6-11 season, throwing for 2,384 yards and 10 touchdowns on 67.6% passing once he took over for Spencer Rattler. On the other sideline, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry are still the headline act, but they're doing it under a brand-new coaching staff — Minter was hired away from Baltimore's own defensive coordinator chair to replace the old regime, with Declan Doyle now calling the offense.
New Orleans spent the offseason building around Shough instead of looking for his replacement, adding first-round receiver Jordyn Tyson, third-round tight end Oscar Delp and running back Travis Etienne to a skill group that already had Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara. Baltimore's bigger question marks are on defense, where Nnamdi Madubuike is still working back from neck surgery and Teddye Buchanan from a torn ACL — exactly the unit Minter was brought in to fix after the Ravens missed the playoffs for just the second time in the Lamar Jackson era.
Neither team is walking in fully healthy, and both have offseason story-lines that matter more than any market price this far out. Rashod Bateman's been away from the team for personal reasons during the spring, and the Saints are still hoping to lock up Olave on a new deal before camp — the kind of background noise that tends to shape September more than August speculation ever does.
New Orleans Saints
Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore's finish last year was a mixed bag — a 41-point outburst in Green Bay sandwiched between losses to Pittsburgh — and that inconsistency is a big part of why the front office made a coaching change in the first place. New Orleans, by contrast, ripped off four straight wins to end 2025 before a season-closing loss to Atlanta, and that stretch is the whole reason Shough walks into 2026 with the job locked down rather than contested.
New Orleans Saints
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Baltimore Ravens
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries to report
It's an odd juxtaposition: the team with the flashier names is the one starting over on offense and defense alike, while the team that won six games is the one bringing back continuity at quarterback and adding talent around him. That tension is what makes this an interesting early-season measuring stick for both franchises rather than a formality for the home team.
