NEW YORK GIANTS COACHING STAFF COMING TOGETHER
Over the past couple of years, the New York Giants head coaching position has started to become a revolving door job. When the Giants announced the hiring of Joe Judge last week, he became the fourth head coach in the short period of just five years, for the organization. Giants ownership hopes that this is the last time, for a long while, that they’ll have to go through yet another head coaching search to start the offseason. Now that they have found the leader of the team, moving forward, it is imperative that Judge builds a strong coaching staff to surround him,which he has started to do. This is especially important because he has no previous experience of being a head coach at any level. Let’s take a look at what hires have already been made and what we should know about these coaches.
Offensive Coordinator, Jason Garrett: Giants fans are plenty familiar with former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as he held that role for nearly a decade. The new Giants offensive coordinator took over as interim head coach for Dallas in the middle of a rough 2010 season and remained their head coach up until the conclusion of this past 2019 season when it was announced that he was relieved of his duties. He was the Cowboys offensive coordinator from 2007 to 2010 before his promotion and was their play caller on offense through the 2012 season, his second full season as head coach, before giving up those duties to Bill Callahan. During his six year tenure calling plays the Cowboys offense put up some very impressive numbers. They ranked inside the top ten in total yards in four out of those six seasons and their lowest rank in this particular category over this stretch was 13th in 2008. It should also be noted that Garrett has experience in helping develop young quarterbacks. Tony Romo, who was an undrafted free agent, made it to the Pro Bowl three times and was selected to the second team All-Pro in 2014 under his watch. Also Dak Prescott, a fourth round pick, had success during his time with Garrett making it to two Pro Bowls in four seasons and taking home the Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2016. With the young franchise quarterback in place, a superstar running back and a plethora of receiving weapons there is a lot to be optimistic about with this Giants offense moving forward under Jason Garrett’s guidance.
Defensive Coordinator, Patrick Graham: The new Giants defensive coordinator comes to New York after spending one year in Miami as the Dolphins defensive coordinator. The Dolphins defensive numbers from last season are very underwhelming but you have to take into account that Patrick Graham was working with arguably the least talented group on defense in the entire league. What’s encouraging about this hire is the scheme that Graham will bring to the Giants defense. He runs the New England Patriots philosophy in which he’ll adjust the scheme week to week based on what the opposing offense brings to the table. This is very different from previous coordinator James Bettcher who stuck to his 3–4 defense no matter the opponent. Graham has familiarity with the Giants organization as he was the defensive line coach here for two seasons in 2016 and 2017. He has also worked with Joe Judge previously when they were both on the Patriots staff together from 2012 to 2015. Another important part about this hire is that Graham has already worked with an inexperienced group with lots of youth in his time with the Dolphins last season. This will be key with a very young Giants defense, especially in the secondary. With lots of cap space in this upcoming free agency, another high draft pick and some nice building blocks in place the Giants defense is almost certain to take a big leap forward this year with Patrick Graham leading the way.
Special Teams Coordinator, Thomas McGaughey: Thomas McGaughey is one of the two coaches that was retained by Joe Judge from the previous staff. Judge obviously has tremendous respect and trust in McGaughey to run the special teams unit and that’s why he will return as the special teams coordinator for his third straight season with the Giants. If there’s anyone that knows what it takes to run an elite special teams unit it’s Joe Judge who was the special teams coordinator for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2019. This is why this move to keep him on staff should not be looked at lightly. In the two years with McGaughey leading this unit they ranked 3rd in 2018 and 17th this past season in special teams ratings. The main reason for the drop off in the rankings was the dip in production from kicker Aldrick Rosas in 2019. He struggled mightily last season missing five field goals in just seventeen attempts to go along with four missed extra point attempts. If he could get back to his 2018 self in which he made the Pro Bowl and second team All-Pro while he was practically automatic then the Giants special teams should be at the very top again under Thomas McGaughey’s watch.
Quarterbacks Coach, Jerry Schuplinski: The development of quarterback Daniel Jones is very important heading into the 2020 season, especially with him having to learn a brand new offense in his second season. The man who the Giants are bringing in to help out in this process is Jerry Schuplinski. Schuplinski has worked with young quarterbacks before in Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett during his time as assistant quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots from 2016 to 2018. Both of these players speak very highly of him. In a 2018 interview with WEEI radio Garoppolo claimed “I wouldn’t be where I am at without him.” That is some high praise from a quarterback who just led his team to Super Bowl LIV in his first full season as a starter. Jerry Schuplinski is a perfect fit to come in and help out Daniel Jones build on his impressive rookie season.
Wide Receivers Coach, Tyke Tolbert: The other coach that was retained from the previous staff by Joe Judge is Tyke Tolbert. Tolbert will be heading into his third season with the Giants as receivers coach. After the trade of Odell Beckham Jr. last March there were lots of questions about just how effective the Giants receiving corps would be moving forward. On top of that the two best receiving threats Sterling Shepard and Golden Tate missed six games and five games respectively this season. In spite of the injury and suspension riddled season for this group Tolbert was able to get solid production from the receivers. This was most apparent with rookie receiver Darius Slayton who was a fifth round pick. The late round draft pick had a very solid season finishing with 740 receiving yards on just 48 catches to go along with eight touchdown catches which tied for fourth most in the league. He did this in fourteen games as he missed the first two with a hamstring injury. Hopefully this group could stay healthy next season so that they could reach their full potential as a unit with Tyke Tolbert leading them.
Running Backs Coach, Burton Burns: Burton Burns joins the staff after spending the last 13 years at the University of Alabama. He was the running backs coach there from 2007 to 2017 and in the past two years he moved in to an off-field role as the assistant athletics director for football. Burns spent three seasons working on the same staff as Joe Judge in Judge’s time there from 2009 to 2011. During his time at Alabama he’s been a part of five National Championship teams and coached up some great running backs like Derrick Henry and Mark Ingram. The pairing of Burton Burns and Saquon Barkley should lead to another great season for number 26.
