NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JANUARY 01: Head coach Matt Rhule of the Baylor Bears looks on during the Allstate Sugar Bowl at Mercedes Benz Superdome on January 01, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
The New York Giants hired Joe Judge as their head coach, and he made quite an impression on the organization to get them to turn down a chance to match Matt Rhule’s offer with Carolina.
When the New York Giants began their search for a head coach, many presumed that the organization’s top target would be Baylor head coach Matt Rhule. There were plenty of ties between Rhule and the Giants, including the fact he served as a coach on Tom Coughlin’s staff in 2012, and Rhule reportedly viewed the Giants as his dream job.
Rhule is now going to be the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, but before he accepted their seven-year deal he did give the Giants a second chance to get him to interview.
It is clear now that the Giants’ new coach, Joe Judge, wowed general manager Dave Gettleman and owner John Mara away to get the organization to turn down a chance to bring in the hottest head-coaching candidate this year. Rhule will instead coach for the Panthers while the Giants take their chances with Judge. It’s also fair to wonder if New York ownership had no interest in matching Panthers owner David Tepper’s $70 million offer and moved onto Plan B.
There is nothing wrong with that logic, especially if Judge can bring some of the Patriot Way to East Rutherford. Several former disciples of Bill Belichick had solid years, including Brian Flores down in Miami and Mike Vrabel (who just upset Belichick and the Patriots in Foxborough) with the Titans.
The problem for the Giants is if this hire doesn’t work, they may have passed on a young coaching star for a special teams coordinator. This may severely hinder the development of Daniel Jones, who showed promise as a young quarterback this season.
The last thing the Giants can afford is to blow their hire with Jones in his early development, so Gettleman and Co. must hope their choice to pick Judge over Rhule was the correct one. If it isn’t, the organization could be set back for years.