Look around the NFL and you will find a bunch of coaches and players that can proudly say that they once used to play on the Baltimore Ravens with All-Pro and certain Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis. Look at many of those same coaches and players and you will see guys whose level of success with their new teams was never repeated once they left the long shadow of the inside linebacker.
Ray's amazing career has jump-started the careers of at least four former defensive coordinators for the Ravens. Marvin Lewis, Mike Nolan, Rex Ryan and now Chuck Pagano have had to find out the hard way that without Ray roaming the middle of the field and acting as a coach on the field, life without Ray is nowhere near as bright and shiny as it was with him.
Add former Ravens assistant coaches Jack Del Rio and Hue Jackson to the list that have become head coaches and failed to live up to the expectations that were there when they were scarfed up by other teams thinking they just stole a bit of Lewis' legacy when they recruited the former Ravens coaches.
Former Ravens players such as LB's Bart Scott (New York Jets), Adalius Thomas (New England Patriots) and Edgerton Hartwell (Atlanta Falcons) never found the same level of success with their new teams when they left Baltimore.
While wishing luck to the newest head coach in the league, Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis Colts), he will soon find out what the other coaches already know: Life without Ray Lewis might make you wealthy, but not successful.