FOCAL POINT
A former head coach in key position makes sense, but Judge doing things his way
THE NEXT big one has to be a big one … right? As Joe Judge puts his first NFL staff together, he already has opened plenty of eyes by eschewing marquee names (Wade Phillips, Marvin Lewis) or a proven veteran (George Edwards) or supposed rising star (Kris Richard) and instead hiring Patrick Graham as his defensive coordinator. Judge is retaining Thomas McGaughey, who did yeoman work as the Giants special teams coordinator, a solid move that makes complete sense, but certainly does not create many headlines.
Who Judge opts to bring in at offensive coordinator will tell so much about the Giants’ new 38-year-old head coach. The conventional thinking is someone so young, in his first NFL gig, wants and needs to surround himself with a proven, experienced lieutenant, either an older, seasoned veteran assistant or a former head coach, to not only run the offense but to bounce ideas and suggestions off of, new head coach to former head coach.
There are some intriguing and attractive options out there. Jason Garrett, Jay Gruden and Jim Caldwell would be easy sells to a fanbase that was stunned by the hiring of Judge, skeptical and curious and then mostly energized by what they heard at his introductory press conference. The Giants know they went out of the box with Judge and are quietly hoping he can put together a qual-quality staff, something Pat Shurmur failed to do, with alarmingly bad results.
Selecting Graham, a 40-year-old coming off a rough season with the Dolphins in his one and only year as an NFL defensive coordinator, shows Judge values his past relationships; he and Graham spent four years together on Bill Belichick’s staff with the Patriots. Judge and Jerry Schuplinski, the Giants’ new quarterbacks coach, spent six years together in New England. There are not such obvious ties with several offensive coordinator possibilities, but it seems to make sense Judge needs to find someone wh o m he can trust to design the offense, call the plays for Daniel Jones and aid Schuplinski in Jones’ development, meaning hands-on experience with the quarterback position figures to be a prerequisite. Gruden, 52, couldn’t overcome the Redskins quagmire as a head coach but is respected as an offensive mind; he did good work for the Bengals before going to Washington. Caldwell, 64, was a winning head coach for the Colts and Lions and has an extensive résumé working with quarter-quarterbacks. Garrett, 53, lasted nearly a decade as the Cowboys head coach and, as a former NFL quarterback, might be ideal in temperament and background to help Jones get to the next level. Garrett was a popular backup (to Kerry Collins) with the Giants, has an immense knowledge of the NFC East and, without an oversized ego, could be a valuable sounding-board for Judge.
There are so many choices for Judge to sort through. Todd Monken will not return to Cleveland. John DeFilippo is out in Jacksonville. Shane Waldron is a young quarter back guru with the Rams. A name to watch: Chad O’Shea. He was fired after one year as the Dolphins offensive coordinator and before that — you guessed it — he spent seven years with Judge and the Patriots as the wide receivers coach.
It is certainly possible Judge assesses the situation and decides his best option is to retain Mike Shula, Pat Shurmur’s (non play-calling) offensive coordinator the past two seasons.
What seems clear is Judge is not interested in making a hire to appease anyone or assuage their fears.
“There is not going to be a coach in our organization organ who has nothing but the best interest in the players at hand and isn’t going to come to work every day and put their butt on the line for the guys who are going to work hard for them,’’ Judge said. “I want teachers, not presenters. I don’t want someone who looks fancy in front of the screen that can ssay it with a lot of different sales lines. I want teachers, I want oldschool people who can get to our players and give them the mental image of what it’s supposed to look like.’’
Garrett, with 23 years of NFL experience —— eight as a player, 15 as a coach — would be welcomed back by Giants ownership. Out of respect, Garrett was to be the final interview for the head coaching position but the Judge decision came together quickly. Garrett clapping on the Giants sideline would be a good story and probably a good hire. This is for Judge to judge, though.