Kyle Hamilton Talks 'Disheartening' Ravens Playoff Issues

The Baltimore Ravens have a strong team and have had a strong team for many years. Since Lamar Jackson arrived, the organization has been to the playoffs five of the past seven years.

Considering the level of talent on both sides of the ball, losing out on a chance at a Super Bowl is a well-known issue for the Ravens, and Kyle Hamilton offered some tough honesty on the "disheartening" nature of missing out on the big show.

Hamilton joined Evan Washburn to talk about his love for golf while playing it, but also got into some tough subject matter, such as the postseason struggles the Ravens have had.

"It's shocking from our standpoint. Obviously, we have high expectations for ourselves and the organization does and our owner always and uh fans and players, coaches, everybody expects us to compete for a Super Bowl every year and we don't even get to the dance. It's pretty disheartening," Hamilton said. 

The 2025 season was a tough one for the Baltimore team. Jackson suffered multiple injuries, as did players at key spots like defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike. With so many components out, the uncharacteristic 8-9 record led to the first missed postseason since 2021.

Even before the 2025 season, the Ravens have only been to one conference championship, which they lost to their rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Despite having struggled plenty, Hamilton believes the coaching staff and players in the building can turn things around in a big way.

"But, you know, back to the drawing board, we're blessed with another season and got a new staff who I think is going to help us a lot and um, you know, it's glass half [music] full. I think we have a lot to build on. We have a great roster, great coaches, so it's just a matter of going out there and doing it," Hamilton said.

A major reason for the expected turnaround has to do with head coach Jesse Minter. Minter brought along a staff that Hamilton sees a lot of promise in. Some of those coaches include defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and offensive coordinator Declan Doyle.

Both are some of the most respected coaches in the league, and Minter has already impressed his players thus far. 

"Super cool dude, super smart. Um, great explainer, teacher," Hamilton said of Minter. 

Hamilton also spoke about how younger coaches are having an impact due to their new thinking and essentially "babies taking care of babies."

"It's like they all have babies and they're raising their babies and that's their playbook. Like they've seen this playbook change throughout the years, how offenses, defenses change and um it's like explaining to somebody like what your kids like, which I've assume a lot of parents would be good at. So, it's it's uh he does a great job just breaking it down for us and um simplifying it and letting us just go out. Well, haven't played yet, but yeah, I can see that we're just going to be able to go out and play freely," Hamilton said. 

The Ravens do have a chance to turn things around, as does the rest of the league. Each season comes with a brand-new slate of opportunities. Baltimore remains with a lot of expectations due to the roster in the building.

Multiple All-Pro and Pro Bowl players inhabit spots on both sides of the ball, and sportsbooks believe the Ravens will reach strong heights, as they have a big 11.5 win total. It will all be up to Minter, leading this group to see if they can have a quick one-season turnover.

The AFC North is also dealing with multiple new coaches and changes, so the division will be up for grabs. However, the AFC is loaded with strong playoff hopefuls. This could be the year that the Ravens put it all together, but they will need to find a way not to dwell on 2025 as a benchmark for what may come.