We’ve got another candidate for the Giants ST coordinator job. According to ESPN’s Jordan Raanan, the Giants interviewed Jets assistant special teams coach Michael Ghobrial for the position.
Ghobrial has been with the Jets since 2021, working alongside Brant Boyer and Leon Washington. Prior to his stint in New York, the coach served as a special teams coordinator in the college ranks, spending time with Washington State, Hawai’i, and Tarleton State.
The Giants have been forced to pivot to assistant ST coordinator to replace Thomas McGaughey. The team was denied interviews with ST coordinators like Marquice Williams (Falcons), Chris Tabor (Panthers), and Ryan Ficken (Chargers), although Dan Duggan of The Athletic notes that the Giants could revisit their pursuit of Williams since Atlanta is no longer blocking interviews.
49ers assistant special teams coach Matt Harper and Bears assistant special teams coach Carlos Polk have reportedly interviewed for the job, while Seahawks special teams coordinator Larry Izzo has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.
More coaching notes from around the NFL…
- Speaking of Thomas McGaughey, the former Giants ST coordinator is interviewing for the same job with the Patriots, according to Raanan. The veteran coach spent the past six seasons as the Giants special teams coordinator, serving on three different coaching staffs. McGaughey previously had stints as the ST coordinator with the Panthers, 49ers, and Jets.
- While the Patriots have and will continue to consider a number of in-house options for both coaching and front office roles, one of their coordinators won’t be sticking around. We heard yesterday that Bill O’Brien was heading to Ohio State as their offensive coordinator, a somewhat surprising development considering the organization’s reliance on continuity in a post-Bill Belichick era. However, as Albert Breer of SI.com writes, the Patriots always intended to conduct a “full search” for a new offensive coordinator. This meant O’Brien wasn’t necessarily eschewing the New England opportunity; rather, he opted for the definitive offer at Ohio State vs. the potential offer with the Patriots.
- As our 2024 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker shows, four of the 12 candidates for the Panthers HC job have defensive backgrounds. While the organization is certainly considering these defensive-minded candidates, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the Panthers still prefer to hire an offensive-minded coach, per ESPN’s David Newton. The belief is that an offensive coach would be an ideal choice to help with the development of quarterback Bryce Young.
I never get why teams prefer ‘offensive minded HC’s’. It’s not like Trevor has improved 2 years under Doug. Dak has flamed out 3 years in the playoffs. NYG aren’t better w/ Daboll and Jones combo. What did Josh McDaniels ever do as a HC besides get fired twice in mid season?
Meanwhile, Buffalo has owned the AFC East for 3-4 years straight w/ a D minded HC and good to great QB play. Baltimore has a ST minded head coach and Lamar is tearing it up.
It really comes down finding the best HC candidate, regardless of their background, and develop a B+ level QB; you can win in the league.
The idea is that offense is more important than defense and you want continuity for your QB. Look at Buffalo with Dabol. He does a great job and gets hired away and they have to replace him. The Chiefs with Reid, 49ers with Shanahan, etc don’t have that worry.
I understand the idea; It’s outdated though. Look at the playoffs this year. Cleveland won w/ D and O minded HC. Texans have D minded HC and won w/ O. Chiefs were stronger on D this year, which was surprising.
But just to stereotype wanting offensive minded HC’s limits the candidates you interview. We were constantly told Carolina assembled a high octane HC and offense staff last year, how did that turn out? Leadership should be the number 1 quality you need in your HC, not what side of the ball they have experience with. Followed with dealing w/ adversity (injuries, suspensions, depth chart, media etc), in game adjustments allowing the coordinators to focus on calling the games. Many HC’s are blamed for clock management problems. Haunted A Reid for years and McCarthy come to mind. If they allowed for their coordinators to handle calling of the game, they would be more aware of the subtleties that affect the game.
“NYG aren’t better w/ Daboll and Jones combo.”
They absolutely are. In the two years before Daboll, they finished 31st in the league in points scored. Both years. In Daboll’s first year, they finished 15th. 2023 is difficult to assess due to the amount of injuries and having to use three different QBs, but if you think the offense is not better under Daboll, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Daboll is 15-18-1. Jones has not improved as a QB. It’s you that doesn’t know what you’re talking about. You are the only person, fan or media alike, that thinks the Jones contract was worthwhile. And in fact, you don’t like the contract because you constantly scream that they can get out of it next year. That’ll be 3 years of below .500 record for the Daboll/Jones pairing. Give it a rest.
Wrong wrong wrong. I do not think the Jones contract was worthwhile. Stop putting words in my mouth. You do not have the first clue about the Giants. The Giants are much better offensively with Daboll. 31st in points two straight years before Daboll, 15th in his first year. This is just a fact. Please stop. You post this idiotic nonsense on every Giants article. You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.
Here’s the nuance that seems to continually sail over your head: the Giants made the playoffs for the first time in a while and actually won a playoff game for the first time in like a decade. They had to bring back Jones or the fanbase and media would have revolted.
The would have just franchise tagged him but since Saquon rejected his contract offer (a huge mistake in retrospect on his part), they needed to use the tag on Saquon and therefore couldn’t on Jones. So they needed to offer Jones a contract. He has a high AAV because it can (and probably will) be a short, two year deal. You foolishly keep calling it a 4 year $160 million contract when it isn’t. It’s closer to 2/$80 million. What else could they do? And please don’t say ‘bring in Baker’ or some other retread because no one (including you) would have accepted that. Jones had them painted into a corner and the Giants fashioned the most palatable, escapable deal they could.
“And in fact, you don’t like the contract because you constantly scream that they can get out of it next year.”
No kidding! How do you say I like the Jones contract (I don’t) and then a sentence later say I don’t like it (correct).
The only one who needs to give it a rest is you. You don’t need to post your uninformed Giants opinions on every single article about the Giants. Especially when you seemingly know nothing about them. Stop. Or at least get a clue before posting. To circle back to the beginning, if you think the offense isn’t any better under Daboll than it was under Judge, then you are clueless.
Wow, they won a playoff game and then were so bad, they’re drafting 6th this year. That means they’re an average team. That’s your argument, beating Minny last year?
As for the management of the team; they should have let Barkley walk as he will this year. In fact all of the RB’s that pouted about their contracts (Barkley, Ekeler, Henry…) last offseason will be FA’s. D Cook is a clear example why. They get used up. Giants mishandled their roster last offseason. Like you, they got caught up in beating the Vikings rather than seeing a roster that barely beat .500 teams for the season.
As for Jones, they should have done nothing. Let him play out his contract and prove he was worth a new deal. He is nothing more than a backup level quality QB. He was out played by Minshew this year as perfect example. Flacco had more 300 yard games in half the amount of games on a new roster as another example. He’s a BU QB that out smarted an incompetent coaching staff and front office. Give Dan credit for using his brains milking $80m out of the Giants!
In fact, your coaching staff is so bad, there’s been non-stop talk of mutiny on the defensive side of the ball by 3 different coaches. That’s who you’re hedging your bet on? When the Giants go roughly around .500 next year, it will be non-stop talk of firing the GM & HC. Everyone already knows this, except you, and this season isn’t even finished.