Zach Orr was trying to focus on the positives, but it wasn’t easy. He was just 24 years old. He was an ascending player on a proud Baltimore Ravens defense. Just weeks earlier, his first full season as a starter ended with him getting some All-Pro votes. The inside linebacker, who came into the league as an undrafted free agent from North Texas, was closing in on a significant payday.
Yet, just like that, his career was over. A congenital neck/spine condition, discovered in his year-ending physical, forced him to announce his retirement in January 2017 following just three professional seasons.
“When I found out the news and found out how serious it is, it was something that I just looked at as a blessing,” Orr said then at a news conference at the Under Armour Performance Center. “I look at it as when a door closes, another one opens. I am ready for that next door to open, and I am ready to jump at that opportunity, whatever that is.”
Seven years later, Orr sat in the same team auditorium, in virtually the same place in front of the room, and reflected on the improbability of it all. It was coaching that helped him get over the premature and heartbreaking end to his playing career. It was coaching that provided purpose and an outlet for his passion.
Now, at the age of 31, after just three seasons as a position coach, Orr is the second-youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL. He’s primed to lead a defense that was arguably the best in the league this past season.
“This means a little more to me. It’s not just me just coaching in the National Football League just for any other organization. No, I’m coaching for the organization that had my back,” Orr said at a news conference Tuesday. “When I went through what I went through, they didn’t allow me to really put my head down. … And them doing that for me just shows that they had my back in a tough situation, so they’re going to get everything I’ve got. Like I said, it means something. I bleed purple and black.”
Tuesday’s news conference capped a dizzying eight days for Orr, a stretch that started with the Ravens’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship. The day after the game, Orr had his first conversation with Ravens coach John Harbaugh about the team’s potential defensive coordinator opening. It was well documented that Baltimore’s current defensive coordinator, Mike Macdonald, had head-coaching interviews with the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, and it seemed inevitable that he’d get one of those jobs.
1 Comment
Orr our defensive coordinator or our defensive coach it doesn’t matter to me as long as he is part of our defensive, I’m looking forward to him making or to help make this team better than last year and I expect a shut out or two or three or more.