Chuck Pagano: I had other coaching opportunities, Ravens check all the boxes

Chuck Pagano didn't spend much time thinking about whether to come out of retirement to join the Ravens coaching staff.

Pagano said on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday that he spoke to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh last Friday about another coach who was looking for a job and Harbaugh asked if Pagano had any interest in coming back to work. They spoke again on Tuesday and the Ravens announced the Pagano will be their senior secondary coach in 2025.

Harbaugh hired Pagano for his initial staff in Baltimore in 2008 and Pagano became the Colts' head coach in 2012 after one year as the coordinator in Baltimore. He said being hired by the Ravens the first time "changed the whole trajectory of my career" and that he had other opportunities to return to coaching, but that the Ravens "just check all the boxes."

"I know the people in that organization from the top down," Pagano said, via the Ravens' website. "It's the gold standard. . . . The thing that pulls you off the couch is the opportunity to win and win it all. They've built a phenomenal roster. They are a wagon from top to bottom."

Pagano coached the Colts through 2017 and then ran the Bears defense in 2019 and 2020 before heading into retirement.