Another assistant heads for exit
An eighth Giants coach is gone from Brian Daboll’s 2023 staff. That makes 12 changes in two years.
Tight ends coach Andy Bischoff is leaving the team to become Jim Harbaugh’s tight ends coach/run game coordinator with the Chargers, according to FootballScoop.
The Giants, who blocked offensive coordinator Mike Kafka from interviewing for the Seahawks’ OC job, let Bischoff out of his contract to make the lateral move to L.A.
The veteran coach’s departure is only the latest in a string of firings and voluntary resignations and departures that demonstrate coaches’ desires to escape to greener pastures.
The Giants’ defensive coordinator search dragged on for four weeks with multiple candidates choosing other, more stable, situations until they hired former Titans DC Shane Bowen on Monday.
Here are the coaching changes – for now:
POST-2022
● 1. DeAndre Smith, running backs – left in a lateral move to become Shane Steichen’s running backs coach with the Colts.
● 2. Tony Sparano Jr., assistant offensive line – left for a promotion to offensive line coach with Steichen’s Colts.
● 3. Nick Williams, special-teams quality control – Giants parted ways with Williams in Feb. 2023.
● 4. Anthony Blevins, assistant special
teams – left in July 2023 to become head coach of the XFL’s Vegas Vipers.
POST-2023
● 5. Jeff Nixon, running backs – left at end of regular season to become Syracuse’s new offensive coordinator/running backs coach.
● 6. Craig Fitzgerald, head strength
– left at end of regular season to become University of Florida’s director of strength and performance.
● 7. Thomas McGaughey, special-teams coordinator – fired on Jan. 8.
● 8. Bobby Johnson, offensive line – fired on Jan. 8.
● 9. Drew Wilkins, outside linebackers – fired on Jan. 8.
● 10. Kevin Wilkins, defensive assistant – fired on Jan. 8.
● 11. Wink Martindale, defensive coordinator – resigned from the team in January.
● 12. Bischoff, tight ends – left this week to join Harbaugh’s Chargers as tight ends coach/run game coordinator.
If Kafka found a way out to Seattle, that would make all three coordinators leaving, nine coaching changes from 2023 and 13 in two years. That reinforces why the Giants would block his departure for optics reasons even though it isn’t best for him.