Tye New York Giants got their man when they hired John Harbaugh to be their next head coach.
Unlike Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur, or Brian Daboll, Harbaugh is neither an offensive or defensive guru. Instead, he oversees the whole team and relies on his coordinators to handle the particulars of their units. That, in turn has shifted the intrigue from who will be the head coach, to who will be Harbaugh’s coordinators, and what will the schemes look like?
It was quickly reported — even before Harbaugh was hired — that former Baltimore Ravens OC Todd Monken would likely follow Harbaugh wherever he went.
It seems as though that is still the case and Monken is the heavy favorite to be the Giants’ next offensive coordinator.
Jeremy Fowler and Ben Solak of ESPN recently released an overview of the available offensive and defensive coordinator jobs, and consider Monken a virtual lock to be offensive coordinator.
This job is considered Todd Monken’s to lose. Monken guided the Ravens to a top-ranked offense under Harbaugh as the unit’s coordinator for the past three seasons. But Monken is still sorting through options and in the mix for the Cleveland head coaching job. Miami has interest in him at offensive coordinator as well. Willie Taggart, who was just the assistant head coach/running backs coach in Baltimore, is also interviewing for the job. But Monken is the clear favorite at this point. — Fowler
This has largely been known for some time. As noted above, Monken has been expected to be Harbaugh’s offensive coordinator since before he even began the interviewing process.
Monken has significant experience at both the college and NFL levels, and calls a varied offense that draws on wide range of concepts and influences. It’s believed that his experience at the University of Georgia would translate well to the Giants’ offense and Jaxson Dart in particular.
The confounding factor is, of course, the Cleveland Browns. It seems as though Monken is in competition with Jim Schwartz for that position, and he (Monken) would obviously be out of the running for the Giants’ offensive coordinator job if he becomes the Browns’ head coach. It is interesting that Fowler mentions Taggart, as a potential favorite due to his connection with Harbaugh — but doesn’t mention Mike Kafka, who has more experience with Jaxson Dart and the Giants’ offensive players than anyone.
Kafka is in the running (along with Brian Daboll) for the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator opening.
Fowler also leans on Harbaugh’s connections at defensive coordinator and cites Anthony Weaver as the top candidate, though he also mentions Daronte Jones as a strong option. Jones, the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive passing game coordinator, has never coached under Harbaugh.
We’ll see how things shake out soon, and the expectation here is that we won’t have to wait long with the Shrine Game, Senior Bowl, and free agency looming. The Giants will want their schemes in place before they start looking at how they fill the roster out.
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