The New York Giants, in a move of panic, have hired Joe Judge, the wide receiver coach of the New England Patriots to be their head coach moving forward.
New York Giants are finalizing a deal to make Patriots’ wide receivers coach Joe Judge their next head coach, league sources tell ESPN. Deal was in the works as of last night, which is another reason Matt Rhule took the Panthers’ HC job.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2020
According to Adam Schefter, this was a major reason Matt Rhule did not participate in the interview with the Giants, who seemingly stonewalled the Baylor program head before he could even make it to New Jersey.
According to Giants.com:
Judge, who turned 38 last week, has been coaching for 15 years, including the last eight with the New England Patriots. He was the team’s assistant special teams coach for three years and special teams coordinator for four. When Chad O’Shea left the Patriots following the 2018 season to become the Miami Dolphins’ offensive coordinator, Judge became the Patriots’ wide receivers coach.
Under Judge’s leadership in 2019, the Patriots finished ninth in the NFL in three significant special teams categories – punt return (8.0-yard average) and punt (6.3) and kickoff coverage (20.9). They were 17th in kickoff returns with an average of 22.1 yards on 26 runbacks.
The Giants will be getting a young coach in Judge, who’s expected to lead the rebuild of the team and establish a winning culture, bred from the Patriots’ ranks. An interesting move, but it could pay off.