00:00John Harbaugh's first order of business as Giants head coach was firing some of the coaches from
00:10the Dayball area and making some changes within the building. Now he's got to find himself in
00:15the OCDC and then fill out the rest of his staff. Our NFL reporter for The Pulse, Ryan Dunleavy,
00:21is hopping on today's Blue Rush with the Ryan report on who Harbaugh could be targeting.
00:26You like that? He's smiling. It's all about Brandon these days, man. It's all about Brandon these days.
00:32Let's talk about the OC situation because Harbaugh's OC in Baltimore. Todd Munkin, as you know,
00:38is the reported favor for the job. He's waiting to hear if he's going to be the next Browns head
00:44coach. So what are you hearing about the Giants' chances of possibly landing Munkin? And if not
00:50Munkin, who are some of the other serious candidates you think Harbaugh will interview?
00:55This morning there was a report that he's requested to interview Ravens running back coach and assistant
01:01head coach Willie Taggart as well. Yeah, Willie Taggart is about basically a Harbaugh brother. He
01:09played for Jack, the father at Western Kentucky. He coached under Jim at Stanford. He coached under John
01:20with the Ravens. So he's he's as well versed in the Harbaugh way as anybody. I think it's a sign the Willie Taggart
01:28interview that if he's not the offensive coordinator, and obviously Harbaugh's preparing as if he has as if he's going
01:35to lose Todd Munkin. If he's not the offensive coordinator and Munkin is, I think it's a strong sign that Willie
01:41Taggart will be the running backs coach for the Giants. I've heard that the Ravens don't plan to block any
01:46assistant coach interviews for the offensive staff. So I think you could see a lot of the Ravens
01:52offensive staff come here. Munkin is the favorite. Of course, there are rules for these things. Even if
01:58you are transitioning from one job to the other, you can't just take your staff from Baltimore and
02:04transplant it to New York. So you have to comply with the Rooney rule, which means two external minority
02:12candidates have to interview for the job. Taggart is obviously one of them. I think it would be a
02:19surprise if they hired Taggart over Munkin since he just had Taggart under Munkin in Baltimore. But
02:25he's got to prepare as if he's losing Todd Munkin, though I don't think he is a favorite for that job.
02:29I think that job will probably go to a younger whiz kid in Cleveland. Somebody like Grant Yudalski from
02:36the Jaguars or Nate Shields from the Rams. And maybe even Jim Schwartz, the in-house defensive
02:42coordinator. If it's not Taggart or Munkin, then I guess Greg Roman, the former Ravens coordinator and
02:52former Chargers coordinator is an option. But you've really seen all the reports are focused on Munkin
03:00right now. You think Jackson Dart is going to have any say on who this next coordinator will be?
03:06Do you think they're playing for Jackson to meet with any of these candidates?
03:12I think that's probably already happened, to be honest with you. We heard Joe Shane say that Harbaugh
03:17and Jackson Dart had to be broken up after a two-hour meeting when he was at the facility before he was
03:23hired. I'm sure as much as that was, you know, getting to know each other, I'm sure the offensive
03:30coordinator, here's my plan for you. I'm sure that already happened. So I don't think that John
03:37Harbaugh on his 18-year resume is going to take the rookie quarterback's opinion on offensive
03:43coordinators, but I'm sure he has Jackson Dart's development and what scheme fits him best at the
03:48top of his matchup list for suitors. I don't think he needs Jackson Dart to weigh in. I think Harbaugh
03:54knows what's best for him in that scenario. Yeah, we talked to how much of Jackson Dart's development
03:59was a priority in the Harbaugh hire. Now another priority is getting this defense fixed. So on the
04:06defensive side of the football, who are you hearing that are some of the favorites that
04:11will interview to land this DC job? Yeah, there haven't been any interview requests that we know
04:18of, but around the league, the people that I know who I've asked about who Harbaugh is going to target,
04:26the names that come up are Anthony Weaver, who's the former Ravens position coach, was the Dolphins
04:31coordinator. He interviewed from some head coaching jobs this cycle. Denard Wilson was the Titans
04:37defensive coordinator, former Ravens position coach. You'll see a trend here. He was the favorite,
04:44Brian D'Abel's favorite, before they hired Shane Bowen, and Denard Wilson ended up going to the Titans
04:50to replace Shane Bowen rather than coming here. So he's somebody the Giants have had their eye on for a
04:55while. And then Jim Leonard, the former Wisconsin University defensive coordinator, former Jets
05:02player. He's up for both the Jets defensive coordinator and the Giants defensive coordinator,
05:08probably some other ones too. He's the Broncos assistant head coach and a former Jets player.
05:14So I think those are probably your three leading candidates. I guess Zach Orr was the Ravens
05:18defensive coordinator, but I would be surprised if Harbaugh brought him along in that role.
05:23Yeah. Jim Leonard also played for Harbaugh with the Ravens as well. When I was at the Dolphins,
05:28we lost to them in a wildcard game. I actually have a picture of him tackling me. I should have
05:32broke that tackle, Ryan. Maybe that's why I didn't stay in the cage that long, but it would be funny
05:36to see him as the Giants defensive coordinator. Now let's flip and talk about the power dynamic,
05:43because we were always wondering what that dynamic was going or working relationship was going to be
05:49in between John Harbaugh and Joe Shane. But now John Harbaugh has come in and made moves right away.
05:57Are you surprised with some of the in-house coaches that he's let go and the news of the franchise
06:04parting ways with longtime senior exec, Kevin Abrams, and them repositioning longtime head trainer,
06:12Ronnie Barnes? What does all this tell you about how much power John Harbaugh will have overall?
06:23There's a lot there, Brandon. Let me take it one by one. One, not surprised by the coach,
06:28not surprised by the coaches who have been let go. I think the only coaches really with a chance to
06:33stay are Charlie Bullen, who I reported last night, has an interview. It's not a lock that he'll stay,
06:39but I think there's a chance. Could he stay as defensive coordinator? Maybe an outside shot,
06:43probably more likely as outside linebackers coach. Other teams have interest in him as a
06:47defensive coordinator, though, so there's competition. Offensive line coach, Carmen Brasillo,
06:53I would characterize as the leading candidate to be the offensive line coach. I'd be surprised if
06:59anybody else stayed. A bunch of the defensive assistant coaches were told they didn't even need to
07:06interview with him, which is a little bit of breaking news that we thought everybody was
07:10going to get a chance to meet with Harbaugh. It did not happen. Joe Shane informed some guys not to,
07:16not that they weren't needed. So no, not surprised by that. Surprised by the other moves? I'm surprised
07:22they happened this quickly. Like, obviously, the John Harbaugh was fighting for as much control as he
07:30could in the negotiation. I am surprised that we're 48 hours into his official tenure and Kevin
07:36Abrams is out and Ronnie Barnes is reassigned. I did hear Ronnie Barnes had been looking to transition
07:42to more of an oversight role and less of a head athletic trainer role, a job he's had since 1981.
07:51This obviously is the perfect time since John wants his own athletic trainer and Ronnie was kind of
07:56looking for a more of an advisory role anyway. So that matches up. Kevin Abrams obviously was
08:03expecting to be part of this regime. He's a salary cap guru. He's been with the Giants since 1999,
08:09was a GM in waiting at one point behind Dave Gettleman. I'm surprised that Harbaugh didn't do the
08:15thing that a lot of people do with from scouts on up, which is give everybody an evaluation period,
08:21you know, a couple months to see how you are at your job and before you make any major changes.
08:28But I think that that was a sign that he has his own people in mind for some of the front office roles.
08:34So Giants fans obviously, you know, tired of the losing will say like, oh, these are overdue changes
08:40to the old guard. But people forget that these people were here and in prominent roles when they
08:46when the Giants were to won two Super Bowls and we're an annual playoff team too. So they're not
08:52all to blame. But obviously big changes coming as Harbaugh flexes a little bit of authority.
08:56It looks like the Giants way is slowly transitioning.
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