Giants looking at Del Rio for staff
The Giants may not officially have a head coach yet, but other positions on the staff are starting to fall into place. In the past two days various reports have linked Jack Del Rio to the defensive coordinator job and Thomas McGaughey as the special-teams coordinator.
None of those appointments will be finalized until the Giants fill the big office first. That job is still expected to go to Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, whose team played in Sunday night’s NFC Championship Game against the Eagles. The Giants are not allowed to offer Shurmur the job until the Vikings’ season ends.
Del Rio was most recently the coach of the Raiders. ESPN reported on Sunday that he is the favorite to take over the Giants’ defense that had been run by Steve Spagnuolo for the past three seasons. His work with 4-3 schemes and man-to-man defenses would seem to fit in well with the Giants’ current personnel.
McGaughey was the Giants assistant specialteams coordinator from 2007-10 and served as the Panthers special-teams coordinator for the past two seasons. If he gets the Giants’ job he’ll replace Tom Quinn, who had held the role since 2007. scheduled for today.
Vrabel was the first person Tennessee interviewed after firing Mularkey on Monday. Mularkey, who also coached Buffalo and Jacksonville, went 21-22 and led the franchise to its first playoff victory in 14 years. This will be Vrabel’s first head coaching job after 18 years in the NFL — 14 as a player and four as a coach.
Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement it was easy to see Vrabel’s commanding presence and relationship with general manager Jon Robinson. The GM got his start in the NFL as a scout with the New England Patriots, where Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a linebacker.
“Mike has a commanding presence and a deep understanding for how he will attack this head coaching opportunity,” Strunk said.
“Throughout his football career, he has played for, been mentored by and coached with successful teams and organizations. He knows what it takes to reach that level of sustained success — he has seen it firsthand. We have a chance to build on the solid foundation that we established over the past couple of years and I believe Mike is the right person to continue that progress.”
The Titans became the seventh NFL team to change coaches since the start of the season, and now they are the third to hire their replacement, joining Oakland and Chicago.
The Indianapolis Colts are reportedly closing in on New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels but can’t hire him until after the Patriots play in the Super Bowl. Arizona, and Detroit also have yet to hire new coaches.