Garrett, Giants discuss OC opening
Ex-Saint Gleason receives Congressional Gold Medal
NEW YORK — Jason Garrett could be the New York Giants’ next offensive coordinator.
Garrett, 53, the recently fired Dallas Cowboys head coach, was in the Giants’ facility for an interview Wednesday, the day after his Cowboys contract expired, per NFL Network.
Rookie Giants head coach Joe Judge, 38, is looking for head coaching experience and offensive acumen in candidates for the position. Garrett has both.
Judge also interviewed incumbent Mike Shula, 54, for the position on Monday. The Giants have had their eyes on Garrett for a long time, though. In fact, they had requested to interview Garrett as a head coaching candidate prior to hiring Judge last week.
Garrett’s late father, Jim, worked on Alex Webster’s Giants staff from 1970-73, including the final two seasons as defensive coordinator.
Jason Garrett’s own playing career began with seven years as a backup Cowboys QB, winning two Super Bowls, before joining the Giants as a backup to Kerry Collins from 2000-03.
Now his coaching trajectory could follow that same path: from 10 seasons as the Cowboys’ head coach (85-67, .559 win percentage) to a high-ranking job with the Giants.
Hiring Garrett is risky for a few reasons. He has not been the primary offensive play-caller in a long time.
He called plays for six seasons in Dallas (2007-2012), the first four as offensive coordinator and the next two as head coach. But Bill Callahan called plays for two years in 2013-14, followed by Scott Linehan for four years (2015-18) and Kellen Moore for one in 2019.
In Garrett’s six seasons as a play-caller with Tony Romo mostly at QB, the Cowboys’ offense on average ranked 12th among the NFL’s 32 teams: second, 18th, 14th, 14th, seventh, 15th and 15th, respectively.
Garrett took the Cowboys to the playoffs in three of his 10 years as head coach, all in his final six seasons in Dallas.
GLEASON HONORED:
Former NFL player Steve Gleason has received the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilan honor bestowed by Congress — for his work as an advocate for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“This award represents the people of the United States of America and is a sublime honor for me,” Gleason, who no longer can speak on his own, said through a computer-generated voice. “It represents some joy, some encouragement and some triumphs for the tens of thousands of families living with ALS and others living with disabilities or experiencing anguish, tragedy or adversity.”
Gleason thanked his family for their support since his diagnosis, noting to his wife, Michel, “This is not the life we imagined and it hasn’t been easy.”
Gleason also said it’s his children — son Rivers and daughter Gray — who “give me purpose.”
The 42-year-old Gleason was diagnosed to have ALS in 2011. He has since spearheaded efforts through the Team Gleason foundation to develop and provide technology to help ALS patients live longer, more fulfilling lives. Those include devices that track eye movements to help people who are paralyzed type words that can be transformed into speech. Gleason has used the technology to communicate, post messages on social media, address lawmakers from around the world and give motivational speeches.
BRONCOS: Denver wide receiver Courtland Sutton was dejected a month ago over his Pro Bowl snub and resolved to make it into the NFL’s annual all-star game in 2020.
“It is what it is,” he said several times at the podium when asked about not making the Pro Bowl after his breakout second season in the NFL. After thinking it over, he later told The Associated Press and The Athletic in an interview, “In God’s timing, it’ll happen the way it’s supposed to.”
On Wednesday, the NFL named Sutton as the replacement for injured Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Suton joins teammate Von Miller as the Broncos’ representatives in the Jan. 26 game in Orlando, Florida.
REDSKINS: Ken Zampese was hired as Washington’s quarterbacks coach on Wednesday with Ron Rivera filling out his staff.
Zampese and new offensive coordinator Scott Turner are now tasked with figuring out what to do with 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins. Rivera said Haskins and injured veteran Alex Smith would compete for the starting QB job and that it wasn’t the Ohio State product’s job by default.
SUPER OFFICIALS: Veteran referee Bill Vinovich will head the crew for the Super Bowl in Miami.
Vinovich is in his 15th season as an NFL official.