Did Giants make right HC decision with Judge?
Peter King and Mike Florio look at the risky move the Giants made by hiring Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge as their next head coach.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MIKE FLORIO: Welcome to PFT OT on Yahoo Sports. He's Peter King. I'm Mike Florio, some of the big news currently happening in the NFL. The dominoes are falling as teams hire new coaches.
And the Giants yesterday, after not hiring Baylor coach Matt Rhule, we thought that's where he would land. He lands in Carolina. The Giants pivot quickly to Joe Judge, special teams coordinator and, for one year, receivers coach in New England. So, Peter, did the Giants get this one right?
PETER KING: Well, Mike, I think there's one thing that they did wrong in this. And it could turn out there were many things they did wrong. But of the things we know right now, we know that Joe Judge did not have any other suitors out there. And the Giants chose to pick him before finishing their interview process.
And that means that they never interviewed Josh McDaniels, who some would say is a far more accomplished coordinator than Joe Judge was. Now they did interview Josh McDaniels for their head coaching job before they hired Pat Shurmur. And so, obviously, they had a sense of who Josh McDaniels was.
And so for whatever reason, they jumped all over Joe Judge. It surprised me. Quite honestly, it shocked me.
But if the story is true that they were given the option to match the contract in Carolina, seven years, $62 million, quite honestly-- er, and-- and-- and, uh-- and hire Matt Rhule, quite honestly, I don't blame the Giants at all for not doing that. How can you commit to do that before you've sat down and interviewed a guy? So we're going to find out about Joe Judge. I-- I'm a little skeptical.
But I didn't sit on-- on the interview. I've never met Joe Judge. I've never talked to Joe Judge. So I-- I think that everybody should reserve their judgment-- no pun intended-- until they see what this guy is all about.
MIKE FLORIO: Well, the good news for Joe Judge, it's not like he's following Newt Rockne and Vince Lombardi in New York. Ben McAdoo was bad, and Pat Shurmur was worse, so the bar is low. And he comes from New England where he's seen a thing or two about how to win championships.
I like the move, but I'm also nervous about the move because of the fact that Joe Judge is a special teams coordinator because I think special teams coordinator should be considered more frequently for head coaching jobs. They just aren't. John Harbaugh has been phenomenal, and he was predominantly a special teams coordinator before he became head coach of the Ravens.
He had one year as defensive backs coach, kind of to make people not obsess over the fact that he wasn't a real football coach. I think if Judge does well, it's going to reinforce the idea that there should be more special teams coordinators who get these opportunities. My concern, though, is, Peter, if he falls flat on his face, people will slam the door on hiring special teams coordinators in the future.
PETER KING: Well, I mean, that's-- in my opinion, that's about the seventh or eighth thing on the list, at least as far as I'm concerned. The New York Giants, this is a vital choice for the Giants. We don't know at this point who is Joe Judge bringing along as his coordinators because right now, that is a huge part of this situation.
Who is going to coach the franchise quarterback? Is he any good? You know, who's going to be your defensive coordinator? Who's going to do that?
You saw that when Brian Flores left the Patriots this year, he brought along Chad O'Shea and then fired him as his offensive coordinator, didn't bring him originally as that. But, eh, you know, he became the offensive coordinator during the preseason, uh, you know, because basically Caldwell could not coach this year, Jim Caldwell. So I just want to know who he's bringing with him and how good they're going to be at their jobs.
MIKE FLORIO: Yeah, I agree with you. And it makes it more critical because he is a special teams coordinator. It's not like he carries in that experience as an offensive guru or a defensive guru.
He's got to find guys he can delegate those two very important aspects of the-- the overall, uh, roster to while he, uh, presumably will continue to keep a hand in special teams coordination because he's, uh-- he's been good enough at it to become an NFL head coach. So big questions for the New York Giants and big concerns for their fans as they try to get the team back to what it was not all that long ago, but it feels like a lot longer than eight years since that team was performing at a very high level. For more pftot@yahoo videos, check us out throughout the NFL season, which will be ending before we know it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
