Former Oakland coach leading candidate for coveted coordinator gig

By Ross Kelly January 21, 2018 at 1:40pm

The New York Giants have yet to hire a new head coach, but they are already zeroing in on their defensive coordinator for next season.

According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, former Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio is the frontrunner to join the Giants. He would join the staff under Pat Shurmur, who is expected to be named the team’s head coach once the Vikings’ playoff run is over.

Del Rio spent the past three years as the Raiders coach but was fired Dec. 31. He went 25-23 in Oakland and called the position his dream job because he was born and raised in the Bay Area.

Del Rio has spent the last 16 years as either an NFL head coach or a defensive coordinator. Prior to joining Oakland, Del Rio was the defensive coordinator for the Broncos from 2012-2014. Denver finished in the top three in total defense in two out of those three seasons and advanced to the Super Bowl in the 2013 season.

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Del Rio’s first defensive coordinator position came in 2002 with the Carolina Panthers. He turned around the defense and elevated them to the fifth-best scoring defense a year after they were the fourth-worst. That position then led to a nine-year stint as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

As a player, he spent 11 years as a linebacker and was a one-time Pro Bowler. He also was a linebackers coach for the 2000 Ravens, considered one of the greatest defenses in NFL history.

Throughout all of his stops, Del Rio has always run a 4-3 defense, which fits the current Giants personnel. New York fell to 27th in scoring defense this season after posting the No. 2 scoring defense in 2016.

That drop in defense means that not only will Steve Spagnuolo lose the head coaching role he currently has on an interim basis, he will also be replaced as the team’s defensive coordinator despite ties to Shurmur.

Shurmur and Spagnuolo were both on the Eagles staff from 1999-2006. When Spagnuolo became the Rams head coach in 2009, he named Shurmur as his offensive coordinator and the two spent another two years together.

Perhaps money is a reason why Spagnuolo isn’t being retained by the Giants. Del Rio is scheduled to make $6 million per year over the next three years from the Raiders, so he should come relatively cheap for New York.

Per Mortensen, any salary the Giants pay Del Rio will simply be offset by the remaining money due from his Raiders contract.

If hired, Del Rio will inherit a Giatns defense that had many disciplinary issues this season, particularly at the cornerback position.

Starters Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins were both suspended by the team at different points in the year. Also, 2016 first-round pick Eli Apple had several issues with teammates and coaches last season which led to him being benched and ultimately suspended as well.

Landon Collins, who was the team’s only Pro Bowler this season, didn’t mince words when talking about Apple prior to the team’s regular season finale.

“There’s one corner that has to establish [himself] and needs to grow, and we all know who that is,” Collins said. “That would be the only person I would change out of our secondary group. Besides the other two guys — DRC (Dominique Rodgers-Cromarte) and Jackrabbit (Janoris Jenkins) — I love those two guys. They play hard. They love what they do. But, that first pick … he’s a cancer.”

Del Rio will be tasked with not only improving the play of the defense, but also smoothing over tensions in the locker room.

The Giants are expected to fill the special teams coaching position with Thomas McGaughey who most recently held the same position with the Panthers. New York’s new general manager, Dave Gettleman, previously served as Carolina’s general manager.

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