The New York Giants seem to have done a great job so far with bringing on experienced coaching talent to their staff, and one of the latest hires is Bret Bielema, who was not only the head coach at the University of Arkansas as well as Wisconsin, but also spent the last season coaching for Bill Belichick in New England as the defensive line coach of the Patriots.
Bielema was hired by the Giants after a brief period of speculation and now we know a bit more about the signing through the revelation of Bielema’s role with the team and official title – it turns out it’s not related to the defensive line this time. Bielema will be the coach of the outside linebackers position group as well as a senior assistant.
New #Giants asst coach Bret Bielema's title is OLB coach/senior assistant.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) January 24, 2020
What exactly senior assistant entails isn’t known to the public but it makes some sense for Joe Judge to seek experienced assistants to take on big roles – Judge himself, after all, is younger than retiring quarterback Eli Manning. As a coach younger than the vast majority of others in the same position, Judge could likely use the experience of the number of former head coaches that have been hired by the Giants this offseason, Bielema included.
Interestingly enough, this may lead to Bielema coaching the Giants’ first round draft pick this year if they decide to take Isaiah Simmons with their first pick, in the top five. Simmons is one of the top prospects linked to the team after they fell too far in draft position to take Chase Young, and could potentially benefit from an experienced position coach helping him as he enters the league.
The hire also seems to bring more Patriots DNA into the Giants organization – but with the recent differences in success between the two franchises, that doesn’t look like a bad thing.