Why NFL assistant coach Megan Rosburg is ‘the real deal’ for the Ravens

In their final meeting before every game, former Baltimore Ravens defensive line coach Anthony Weaver imparted a “winning thought” to his position group. He typically handled the responsibility, but occasionally he let other coaches speak. On the Saturday before the team’s Week 4 contest against the Cleveland Browns last season, Weaver tabbed assistant to the head coach/defensive assistant Megan Rosburg.

Rosburg spent a significant portion of her childhood in Cleveland where her father, Jerry, worked as the Browns’ special teams coordinator. It was a sentimental moment for her. But it was also nerve-wracking given she was in her second year as an NFL coach and had never addressed the D-line room. When she stood up in front of everyone, however, that anxiety translated to raw emotion.

“Every good story needs a villain!” Rosburg shouted.

As the Ravens defensive line dominated the Browns in a 28-3 rout the following day, that message became their rallying cry.

“All the guys on the sideline were repeating her line,” Weaver said recently. “That stuck with us for a while.”

Rosburg, now 31, is one of 12 full-time female coaches in the NFL. Seeing the players galvanize around her message affirmed to Rosburg that they respected her just like any other coach on staff.

“At the end of the day, it’s all about the players. Whether you’re a female coach or a male coach, your resume is what they do on tape,” Rosburg said. “If you can give the players information or give them an advantage to help them win on Sunday, they will trust you and they will respect you. If you’re genuine and you do things that will help them win and help them prolong their career, it doesn’t matter what you look like. … If you’re real with them and you can help them, they’ll trust you as their coach.”

One time for the women in the NFL holding it down in this league 👏👏

Speak on it @clownejd ❗️ pic.twitter.com/Nv7b2tmeUN

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 18, 2023

Every day is different for Rosburg. Her primary responsibilities are focused on the defensive line and outside linebackers. She runs defensive line drills during practice, helps the coaching staff with film study and scouting and assists her fellow coaches during team meetings. Off the field, she helps head coach John Harbaugh plan travel, schedule meetings and practices and make sure communication is clear between the coaching staff, executives and players.

“Nothing’s beneath her, but she’s capable of so much,” former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald said recently. “You didn’t have to think, ‘Oh, well, Megan, she’ll get it at some point.’ It was always like, ‘Oh, she gets it immediately.’ She’s the real deal.”

Rosburg quickly ingratiated herself with the Ravens staff through her work ethic, but her passion for the game made the team invest in her development.

“We really weren’t sure exactly what she was going to be capable of or what she was going to be able to handle, but very early on I realized that she was a football girl,” said Weaver, now the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator. “So I was going to do everything within my power to help feed that.”

One of Rosburg’s first assignments was to study film to identify run or pass tells from opposing offensive linemen. The purpose was to use those pre-snap indicators to give their defensive linemen an edge.

“Once she gave those reports to me,” Weaver said, “we were like, ‘Oh yeah, this is 100 percent accurate,’ and I would have her present it to the players. I think at first that was probably a little bit intimidating for her, but I knew she could handle it.”

Heading into her third season in the NFL, Rosburg doesn’t shy away from the fact that she’s still deepening her football knowledge. That hasn’t impacted how she’s treated by the Ravens players, coaches and executives.

“I truly don’t think that coaches or players are opposed or appalled by the idea at all,” Rosburg said. “I honestly think it’s the opposite. It just goes back to, ‘Hey, it’s the NFL, this is the best of the best. Who can help me learn in the way that I need it the most?’”

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From the time Rosburg was born to when she graduated high school, her father coached at three different colleges and for three different NFL teams. That meant a lot of moving around. Eventually, Rosburg wanted to know more about why her family went through so much transition. The reason was football.

“It’s truly all I’ve ever known,” she said. “My dad would come home, and we would obviously talk a lot about our days, but I was more interested to see how practice was going.”

Rosburg always felt like part of whatever team Jerry was coaching. She played youth flag football but eventually turned her attention to volleyball, playing collegiately at American University, where she captained her team to the NCAA Sweet 16. She took a corporate job in Detroit after graduating in 2014, but she longed for the communal feeling and competitive nature of sports. She approached her dad about exploring a football career.

Jerry had developed a strong relationship with Harbaugh while working together, first as assistants at the University of Cincinnati and later when he served as the Ravens’ special teams coordinator from 2008 to 2018. When Harbaugh heard of young Rosburg’s interest, he approached her in the spring of 2022 with a job offer.

Jerry retired in 2022, but he has seen his daughter’s progression firsthand.

“We always carve out time to talk ball,” Jerry said. “I’m really impressed by her grasp of the defensive system. She’s now at a point where we’re talking about things, not (just) what they are, but how they’re applied and how they can be utilized.”

As important as X’s and O’s are, Jerry also knew it’d be important for her to find a way to connect with and gain the approval of players. That’s true for any coach, but it was clear that pulling that off would be different for a woman in football.

“When there’s a female college volleyball player coaching the defensive line in the NFL, it’s unique. But she’s gone into it with the idea that, ‘I need to earn my way,’” Jerry said. “And, because of that, I think she’s garnered the respect of the players.”

Rosburg quickly struck up relationships with the players, particularly defensive tackle Michael Pierce and former Ravens edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney. While Rosburg is actively pushing for more female coaches in the NFL — she spoke at this year’s NFL Women’s Forum focused on increasing the number of women in football operations positions — she was just coach Rosburg in Baltimore.

“I could see that they weren’t just treating her as an ornament or a fringe piece,” Jerry said. “They respected her, and they consulted with her. Aside from the football piece, she’s always had this emotional intelligence about her. She’s been a leader even when she was young.

“She’s been involved in big-time athletics from a female perspective, but to stand in the defensive huddle and command that kind of attention, it’s something to be admired. And she does it because she approaches it the right way. She’s not trying to make some kind of point for the oppressed females in the NFL. That’s not what she’s doing. She’s trying to help the D-line.”

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Macdonald was hired as the Seattle Seahawks’ head coach this offseason despite never having played football beyond high school. The number of options for women to play football beyond high school is growing, but it’s rare. A lack of playing experience didn’t stop Macdonald from becoming the NFL’s youngest head coach at 36, however, and he doesn’t believe it should be used to knock female coaches.

“It’s so competitive that you’re trying to find the best people you can find, and there’s a lot of talented women out there that can help you win,” Macdonald said. “So why would you not want these people in your building to help you out?”

Macdonald met Rosburg during his second stint with the Ravens from 2022 to 2023. He was impressed with her ability to connect with people.

“Her superpower is to generate those relationships,” Macdonald said. “The players can feel how genuine and authentic she is and how much she cares about where they’re coming from to be able to relate.”

Despite not playing football at a high level, Rosburg can relate to the physical and mental stressors an athlete must endure. That has helped her avoid some of the stigmas attached to being a woman in the NFL.

“When I first got into this game as a player, I’d probably turned a blind eye to it, but now I’m just seeing how much value (women) can have,” Weaver said. “They offer a different perspective of the game. Sometimes women can do a better job of taking some of the machismo and ego out of it, right? … There’s a tremendous amount of value in that.”

When Jerry started coaching high school football in 1979, the only women he saw working in the sport were athletic trainers. Back then, it would’ve been hard for him to imagine a daughter of his coaching football at the highest level. Although his connection to Harbaugh certainly accelerated Rosburg’s journey, he knows she wouldn’t have a place on the staff unless she deserved it.

“Especially at the highest levels in the NFL, I don’t think there’s space for free riders. You’ve got to contribute,” Jerry said. “And the talents of these young ladies that I’ve seen, they have something to bring to the table. … The more we can do to bring more people in, we should all be fully in favor of that.”

Rosburg is confident that representation will inspire more women to follow a similar path to hers. “That’s the main thing: just realizing they can be a part of it in that way,” she said.

Rosburg has already proven her worth with the Ravens. Could she end up taking on an even bigger role in the future?

“As her confidence grows and her knowledge of the game grows in terms of the schematics, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to see her growing into a position coach and maybe one day even being a coordinator,” Weaver said. “You talk about someone that’s capable of breaking glass ceilings — if I was going to bet on somebody, I’d have no problem putting money on her.”

(Top photo: Courtesy of Megan Rosburg)