The New York Giants have kicked off their head coaching search shortly after firing Brian Daboll. Several NFL insiders have begun to report their findings on the Giants’ search, including a recent report indicating the Giants’ interest in hiring an experienced, proven head coach to lead the team.
NFL insider lists experienced candidates for the Giants’ vacant head coaching position
NFL insider Jay Glazer shared some information about the Giants’ head coaching search on FOX Sports on Sunday. While discussing the Giants’ expected criteria for the role, he also listed several candidates who likely check the Giants’ boxes.
Glazer listed the following names as potential candidates for the Giants’ head coaching job:
- Former Packers & Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy
- Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy
- Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith
- Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo
- Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo
- Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Chris Shula
The common denominator for the majority of these candidates is prior head coaching experience. McCarthy, Nagy, Smith, and Spagnuolo are all former head coaches (with varying levels of success in that position).
Anarumo is not a former head coach, but he is a former assistant head coach at the collegiate level, and he has been a defensive coordinator for the last six years, and has been coaching at the NFL level for 13 years now.
Chris Shula is an outside-the-box candidate
Shula is the most inexperienced name, and arguably the most intriguing name on the list. The 39-year-old has emerged as the right-hand man of Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay. He is only in his second season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator, but has been a member of McVay’s staff since 2019, filling various roles on the defensive side of the ball and even spending one season on the offensive side as a passing game coordinator (2022).
“Of all the coaches that Sean McVay has pushed along to be a new head coach, the next head coach, he’s done more with Chris Shula than all of them combined,” Glazer said. “These two guys are best friends, they went to college together, but he lets him in on everything… He thinks he’s going to be a star.”
Under Shula, the Rams’ defense has proven to be one of the best units in the NFL. They are holding opponents to only 17.2 points per game this season, the second-best mark in the league.
Giants not expected to cast a wide net in head coaching search
As for the scope of the Giants’ head coaching search, Glazer indicated that it would be more limited this time around.
“They’re not going to have a head coaching search that is going to span everywhere. They’re not just going to open up to everywhere possible and have 25 guys in,” Glazer added in his report.
Rather than casting a wide net, it seems like the Giants will have a more intentional approach to this head coaching search, only bringing in a select few candidates that they feel are worthy of the job.
The Giants are deciding between “two lines of thinking”
Glazer added that he spoke to Giants general manager Joe Schoen, who the team announced is leading their head coaching search. This adds credence to Glazer’s list of candidates and other tidbits of information.
“There’s two different lines of thinking. I talked to their general manager Joe Schoen this week,” Glazer said. “The first way is, ‘Hey, do we get a guy to come in and develop our quarterback?’ The other way is, ‘Do we get a guy who is going to come in just for the culture and have confidence that he is going to bring in the right coaches?'”
Maximizing Jaxson Dart’s potential, or reinstating a culture of winning? That’s the big question that Schoen and company need to answer as they embark on their search for their next head coach.
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