The New York Giants made former Baltimore Raven Jordan Stout the highest-paid punter in football this offseason. Special teams coordinator Chris Horton, who had that same role with the Ravens until joining John Harbaugh in New Jersey, explained why earlier this week.
“When you look at all the things that he can do on the field, for us punting is about protecting the punt and flipping the field. Jordan gives you that. He has the leg strength to do that,” Horton said. “When you talk about how the game has changed a little bit now that the drive starts starting a little further down the field from a kickoff return standpoint, Jordan has the ability to pin people down inside the 10, inside the 5. All those things come together.
“Not only that, he’s a great holder. Those three things make up a really good punter. So it’s not so much that you look at him and say, well, he’s the highest-paid punter. He got paid off of production. This is a production-based business. When guys perform well, they get compensated for it.”
Here are more takeaways from Horton’s first media availability with the Giants.
Horton has been working with Harbaugh since 2014, when he took a job with the Ravens as assistant special teams coach. He understands the boss well.
“He’s about as authentic as they come,“ Horton said. ”I just think it’s more of you just got to be good at your job at anything you do, right? You’ve just got to understand that he’s not just a special teams coach. He understands the defense. He understands the offense in pretty depth — like with a lot of knowledge.
“For me it’s not so much, hey, I’m working for John Harbaugh. I understand the expectations. I understand the standard. That’s a good thing to be a part of.
“One of the things we talk about is really just being on the same page, having a shared vision. That’s really big on what Harbs is always talking about. Then when you get this opportunity to take this job, you know that you’re working for someone that’s going to give you the time and the opportunity to lay the foundation, because it’s new. It’s not in place.”
What has he learned from Harbaugh?
“Things I learned from him is, one, you have to stay on them. You’ve got to be relentless in your coaching and the techniques,” Horton said. “Sometimes when you feel like guys have gotten it, you have to just continue to just press on, press on. It’s not always going to be good, and you have to understand that.
“Just being able to, you know what, do you believe in what you’re teaching? If you believe in what you’re teaching, you’ll get the job done, and it will start to show itself, and it will come to surface.”
“I embrace this phase of the game”
Horton was a defensive back as a player. Early on in their relationship, Harbaugh gave Horton a choice of coaching defensive backs or special teams. Horton chose special teams.
“Harbs was, hey, what do you want to do? Do you want to stay on defense, or do you want to be the special teams coach? Right away I was, like, hey, I want to be the special teams coach, because I embrace this phase of the game,” Horton said.
I” do feel like sometimes people take it for granted, but it’s just talking to guys and just being able to get them to go jump-start their career or extend their careers. I think it’s very important. If you embrace this phase of the game, you can play a really long time.“
Once a Giant … again a Giant
Horton played for Washington from 2008-2010. He finished his career in 2012 on the Giants’ practice squad.
“Giants were coming off a Super Bowl win. It was different. I was walking into a building where I just wanted an opportunity to play. I remember going up to Albany for training camp. It was hot. Just being here having a great time, just sitting in TC’s meetings and just understanding, okay, everybody says you got a hard-nosed coach and kind of what that was like,” Horton said. “Then being under Tom Quinn, just kind of working through it. Obviously I dealt with injuries, so it didn’t last very long, but I was excited to be here. At that point this had been really a great organization to come into. You hear all the stories. It’s the Giants, you know? You’re going to the Giants, and it proved everything to be. I’m excited to be back.
“As a player, it’s different. Now I’m on the other side. I am the special teams coach, right? I’m hungry from a development standpoint, and I’m hungry in a standpoint of I want to see, one, this team play well, and not only see the special teams excel, so that’s what I’m hungry for, and that’s the feeling that I got going on.”
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