There seems to be a sentiment among New York Giants fans that the team shouldn’t entertain the idea of hiring someone who’s never done the job before to be the team’s next head coach. And after Ben McAdoo, Joe Judge, and Brian Daboll, there’s certainly merit to that opinion.
But when pressed and presented with the top “inexperienced” candidates, Giants fans have a clear and overwhelming favorite: Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
Shula is a young coach at 39, but he’s beeen coaching in some capacity since his first job as a linebackers coach at Ball State in 2010. He’s spent most of the last decade as a defensive coach for the Los Angeles Rams, joinging the staff with Sean McVay. The two are college classmates and reportedly close friends, and McVay has endorsed Shula as a head coach.
The hope is likely that hiring Shula would reorient the Giants’ focus to the defensive side of the ball and get results from the investments made in that side of the ball in recent years. Hiring any defensive-minded coach would also make hiring the right offensive staff critically important, as the development of Jaxson Dart is of paramount importance to the future of the Giants.
Unfortunately, few fans are truly confident in that future as things stand now.
Just 35% of fans believe the team is headed in the right direction. That’s roughly the same percentage of fans who are optimistic about the Giants future as in the previous two polls. That tracks, as little has changed over the last three weeks. The Giants are slight underdogs, -2.5 points per FanDuel, at home to the Minnesota Vikings this week.
