Taking a step down from head coach to coordinator is never an easy decision to make, but for former HC Jason Garrett, it was an inevitable choice. New head coach of the New York Giants, Joe Judge, interviewed Garrett, a likely compromise with upper management, as the long-time HC does not know Judge well at all, but to no one’s surprise, they hit it off.
“We had a great day together,” Garrett said of his meeting with Judge. “I didn’t know Joe real well; been around him on a couple different occasions and had really good conversations with him, really good football conversations. He and I know a lot of the same people. I worked for Coach (Nick) Saban, he worked for Coach Saban. Coach has always said such great things about Joe, and so many other people that he’s been around that I’ve been around say the same thing. What he’s like as a person, what he’s like as a football coach.
“We visited over the phone this past weekend and had a great talk. It was probably one of those talks, I don’t how long it was; a half hour, 45 minutes. It probably could have gone all night. Just talking back and forth, getting to know each other a little bit more, talking about football. And that’s when we decided it would be a good idea to come up, spend the day together, and that’s what we did on Wednesday. Had a great visit with him, a couple members of the staff, other people in the organization and it just felt right to me. Felt really comfortable to be around him. I think we have shared values as people and shared values as football coaches and what we want to build with the Giants.”
The familiarity of knowing Saban should be helpful in their chemistry on the sidelines, let alone their mentality towards the game of football. Aside from Garrett, Judge has pieced together his coaching staff, stacked full of tough, hard-nosed coaches who will bring the best out of players.
The New York Giants are getting more than just a coach in Jason Garrett:
Garrett offers a bit more, though, considering his time developing players like Tony Romo and Dak Prescott. His knowledge and experience will be essential to the growth of Daniel Jones. Garrett will also be a shoulder to lean on for Judge, who is a first-year head coach.
The former Dallas HC mentioned that while they weren’t looking for a quarterback int he first round, they did their due diligence on Jones and loved what he had to offer. His influence on Jones will be significant.