Both the New York Giants coaching staff and roster are shaping up in the first offseason under head coach Joe Judge, and as more hirings happen, it’s becoming clearer what the Giants are trying to do and what their staff will look like for the 2020 season. We also have some more information now about the reasoning behind one of the more controversial hires, the one that brings former Dallas head coach Jason Garrett to the Giants as an offensive coordinator.
Judge spoke to Newsday about the reasoning behind the hire, and about some other things such as his thoughts about the roster that’s now under his watch.
“Look, it’s a quarterback-driven league. Someone who’s worked successfully with multiple quarterbacks and had developed them over time, who has vast knowledge himself as a player in this league in different systems under different coordinators and playing with other great players, that’s definitely something that’s going to add to this organization and this offense,” Judge said, in explanation of bringing in Jason Garrett.
Of course, the Cowboys under Garrett were in a similar situation to Judge with the Giants – they had a promising young quarterback with a star young running back, and they managed to make it work while balancing both parts of their offense. However, they did have one of the top offensive lines in the NFL, and the lack of that for the Giants could prove challenging in recreating the success Dallas had.
However, Judge is seemingly confident so far about the roster that the Giants have. “To be honest with you, after watching them, I’m very excited about working with our team. I was excited before I saw them and I’m even more excited now,” he continued. Interestingly enough, though, Judge and his staff are still waiting to do a fuller evaluation before making more statements about the team’s progress.
“I’m not going to make any public evaluations on these guys right now… Part of it is evaluating what you need to fix, what you need to adjust, and that’s what we’re looking at right now as coaches on how we can build this system to immediately build this foundation and move forward with these guys,” Judge said.
While it may sound contrary to logic to be happy about receiving less info, this is something Giants fans should definitely be glad for. It means that the coaches are taking a more serious look at the talent and a more patient approach rather than repeating offseason platitudes about how the team is ready to take big steps forward – something they’ve failed to do under either of their past two head coaches.
It will take time to see just where Judge ends up compared to Pat Shurmur or Ben McAdoo, but it is encouraging that already, there’s multiple differences between them that can be pointed out. And with the coaching staff being quickly filled out, it won’t be long before the intrigue around the Giants shifts from these hires to the draft and free agency, where the organization will really show it if can take a step forward or not this offseason.