The New York Giants have started their head coaching search, and the team has already gotten a start on talking to Brian Flores. The recently fired Miami coach, of course, is one of the top names on the market right now. He’s the only coach entering the open market after being fired for back to back winning seasons, and some believe that Flores was close to turning things around in Miami if he had received more time.
It’s safe to say that Flores is going to be one of the names mentioned a lot in the coaching search, now that the Giants have a GM. The team already contacted Flores, however, even before Joe Schoen was announced as general manager. According to the New York Post’s Ian O’Connor, it was John Mara that was the first one to reach out.
John Mara reached out to Brian Flores a couple of nights ago, a source told The Post. Very good conversation. Mara assured Flores that he's a serious candidate and that Giants will be willing to eat money to clear up some cap space…This could be Flores-Daboll steel cage match.
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) January 21, 2022
A clarification on this tweet – the purpose of this call was for John Mara to tell Brian Flores that he is a serious candidate. The Giants were going to work the salary cap for Joe Judge, if he stayed, or for any coach they hire…Anyway, Flo is pretty fired up for the interview
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) January 21, 2022
Of course, this will be a bit awkward in the eyes of some as Mara has already promised that the head coaching search will be up to the GM. But it doesn’t currently look like there’s plans to walk back on that.
The likely reasoning for reaching out before finalizing the GM hire is that Flores is an in-demand candidate and could have accepted an open job before the Giants had a chance to put an offer on the table. The early contact from Mara would have made it clear that Flores is one of the possible candidates, but it still looks like the main search process will come down to Joe Schoen.
Whether Schoen’s preferred candidate is Flores remains to be seen. Schoen may, after all, prefer Brian Daboll or Leslie Frazier from his former organization.
Either way, the Giants appear to be in a great position to select a candidate who will last this time.