Roman was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Ventnor. He and his two older brothers were raised by his mom after his parents divorced, Roman never had a relationship with his father. At age 10, with his family strapped for cash, Roman got his first job as a paperboy for the Atlantic City Press; during the summers he worked as a "runner" on the beaches of South Jersey. The money he made, in addition to helping to support his family, helped him to pay for his education at a nearby private high school. He graduated from Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, New Jersey where he played football for the Holy Spirit Spartans. In his senior year at Holy Spirit, he was named to the All-South Jersey team. After graduation in 1991, Roman got an academic scholarship to attend John Carroll University in the Cleveland suburbs.
College Career
Roman played football for the John Carroll Blue Streaks for three years, winning the starting job as a defensive lineman in his last two years. He earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honorable mention status following his senior season in which he recorded 80 tackles and six sacks. That year the Blue Streaks defense allowed a league-low 98 points in 10 games and enabled the John Carroll University football team to capture a share of the OAC championship. Roman finished his collegiate career with 145 tackles, 20.0 tackles-for-loss and 9.5 sacks.
Professional Career
Roman's first coaching job was with the Carolina Panthers where he started as the unpaid strength and conditioning coach. He worked his way up through the ranks and then onto the Houston Texans, the Baltimore Ravens. Roman then worked under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford. In 2010, Roman was a finalist for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top college footballassistant coach. When Harbaugh left Stanford in 2011 to become head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Roman followed and was named the offensive coordinator. He remained at the position until 2014. On January 12, 2015, Roman was hired by the Buffalo Bills to be their offensive coordinator under newly hired head coach Rex Ryan. On September 16, 2016, Roman was relieved of his duties after a 37–31 loss to the New York Jets.
Baltimore Ravens
In 2017, the Ravens hired Roman as a senior offensive assistant and tight ends coach; in 2018 he was promoted to assistant head coach and tight ends coach. In 2019, the Ravens opted to completely revamp the offense and the then offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg decided to retire. Roman, who had coached Colin Kaepernick at San Francisco was promoted to offensive coordinator and tasked with the development of a new, dynamic offense. This new offense would be a combination of his experiences as a tight ends coach and the knowledge he had gained from reading hundreds of football books centered on the Ravens new quarterback, Lamar Jackson and running back Mark Ingram. In Roman's first full season in charge of the Ravens' offense, after 12 games, the team averaged 33.8 points per game; best in the NFL.
