New York Giants: 3 things Joe Judge needs to accomplish this offseason

The New York Giants hired their third head coach in four years on Tuesday morning, bringing in New England Patriots’ WR coach and special teams coordinator, Joe Judge.

New England head coach, Bill Belichick, has advocated for the hiring of special teams coordinators, considering they interact with every unit and are involved in the game plan across the board. Judge, who boasted a special teams unit that ranked no worse than 10th over a five-year tenure, seems to be a great fit with the Giants.

Now, it boils down to three essentials that New York Giants new HC Joe Judge must consider this offseason.

Big Blue View’s Ed Valentine detailed three different steps:

1.) Hiring the right staff

Judge is going to be a CEO-type coach. He is going to need quality offensive and defensive coordinators he trusts to run those groups. It wouldn’t hurt if one or both of those coordinators, or at least someone on staff that Judge knows and trusts, has been a head coach before and can help him navigate the minefield of thing he has never dealt with before.

Judge hasn’t served as an offensive or defensive coordinator in the past, which might be a good thing for the Giants, who are looking for their coach to instill discipline across the board and not falter in any specific category. Jason Garrett has emerged as a potential offensive coordinator, and Kris Richards would be a fantastic option on defense.

Getting Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley to buy-in:

John Mara said when he undertook the search for this head coach that someone who could develop Jones, the player entrusted with being the franchise quarterback, was paramount. Jones seemed despondent when Shurmur was fired.

This is an essential factor that Ed hits on in his article. Having Barkley and Jones on board with Judge is important, and maximizing their skill-set is even more so. Whoever Judge brings in at OC must be creative and modern with their approach.

Be himself, not a mini-Belichick:

“He’s very intense. Joe is really passionate about what he does,” Patriots special-teams captain Matthew Slater said in a 2017 story by ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “He has a hyperattention to detail; there is no stone unturned by the time we get to the game, and we feel super prepared and know he’s going to put us in position to make plays. As a player, that’s all you can ask for. And you have to appreciate the energy and passion with which he coaches. I think it really carries over to us as players. We love going out there and playing for him, and for each other.”

Judge sounds eerily similar to Belichick in this description, and that’s a good thing when it comes to preparation. However, he must create his style and develop a modernized way of dealing with these social-media infused athletes.