The New York Giants have their head coach, and it looks like they’ll be with Joe Judge for a long time, but there was at one point much more intrigue over the coaching job. One name that had a connection to the Giants franchise and would have been a dream hire to bring on back in 2018 was Bill Belichick, but of course, Belichick is still with the Patriots and the idea of him leaving in 2018 would have been called crazy.
However, according to ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham, Belichick did consider other job openings back then and the New York Giants were one of the teams. He spoke about this on the Harrison Vapnek Podcast and claimed that the Patriots ownership forcing a Jimmy Garoppolo trade had a bigger effect on Belichick than many would have thought.
Belichick allegedly spoke to three teams
At the time, I think there was a sense that Brady wasn’t going anywhere and Bill left the impression that he might be open to a move. There were some reports that came out at the time that the Giants were looking at him. I think he talked to the Washington Football Team and the Dolphins about sort of their openings. And it was unclear whether he was interested or not, but he was still talking to them and subsequent reporting has only sort of shown how in that offseason, Brady skipped the offseason program for the first time in his career and he had just kind of had enough.
The Giants, of course, did not end up with Belichick. They ended up with the Pat Shurmur era, which proved to be a disaster. The team didn’t make much progress during that time and fan hopes were pretty low by the time Shurmur was fired.
Belichick hasn’t gone anywhere but interestingly enough, the New York Giants did end up with someone from the Patriots organization in the end. Joe Judge previously worked under Belichick, and his history of working in great organizations like New England and Alabama likely played into the Giants hiring him.
Their choice appears to be paying off in a good way right now, with Judge in position to lead a rising roster forwards at a time when there’s a lot more optimism all around than in 2018.