00:00All right, the Giants and John Harbaugh finally found their offense coordinator after missing out on Todd Monk and former Chiefs OC and Bears head coach Matt Nagy is going to be the guy calling plays for Jackson Dart and Big Blue.
00:19Our NFL reporter for The Post, Ryan Dunleavy, is up and he hops on from San Francisco for another Blue Rush coaching hire.
00:27Appreciate you hopping on early this morning. News broke earlier for you guys than it did for us, Ryan.
00:34Let's get straight to this because throughout this entire offensive coordinator search, I don't think I heard Matt Nagy's name in any of the reports or the process.
00:44So how did the Giants come to it that he's going to be the guy? How did they settle on Matt Nagy?
00:52Keep the secret. We learned that, Brandon. He can keep a secret. He couldn't do it on defense. It was too easy to connect the dots.
01:01John Harbaugh has always hired and he's done this a bunch. I think this is like his sixth or seventh offensive coordinator. Six, seven. Right, Brandon?
01:08But he's always hired somebody with play calling experience. So the Alex Tannies, the Davis Webbs, it was a nice thought.
01:20It was up and coming. But John Harbaugh on the offensive side is always he's more of a defensive mind, special teams.
01:27He's always preferred to experience play caller. Matt Nagy did not call the plays for Andy Reid in Kansas City,
01:34but obviously he has before. He was head coach of the Bears. So how did it come down?
01:40I think John Harbaugh has a wide network of friends. One of the closest is Andy Reid.
01:45Andy Reid had Matt Nagy for many years before and after he was head coach.
01:50Nagy wanted a chance to call plays, stepped away from the Chiefs after this season to pursue those opportunities.
01:56Didn't get the Titans head coaching job that went to Robert Sala.
01:59Looked like he might get frozen out. And obviously Harbaugh trusts Andy Reid's opinion.
02:07Andy Reid went to bat for Matt Nagy last week and pretty much held a press conference just to say,
02:12why isn't Matt Nagy getting a chance? And then Harbaugh mutual friend gives him that chance.
02:18So why do you think they didn't go with Charlie Weiss Jr., who obviously has,
02:22you know, familiarity with Jackson Dart from their time at Ole Miss together?
02:27I think it's probably a combination of Harbaugh wanting somebody that he knows through a mutual network,
02:34even if he's never, you know, quote unquote, worked with him before wanting experience.
02:39And Charlie Weiss Jr. I think wanted to stay at LSU. I think we saw that.
02:42I mean, he interviewed, but he interviewed with the Eagles and pulled out of that job.
02:48Uh, obviously he's familiar with Jackson Dart, but timing from college coaches.
02:53I know a lot of them, it's got to line up perfectly in the NFL.
02:57And they, if he didn't feel like it did, if he felt like, you know, more time at Lane's side,
03:02Lane Kiffin's side at LSU was right. And then he, you know, maybe get a different opportunity.
03:08And look, this Giants job, if Matt Nagy does well, it could open up again next year.
03:12He wants to be a head coach. So this could be a one-year train.
03:14Yeah. He can get a shot at that. I mean, we look at what he was able to do with Alex Smith,
03:192017. And then when he was head coach with the bears, what he was able to do with Mitch Trubisky
03:25of all people had him go to the pro bowl. They went 12 and four. So it's like me as a wide receiver.
03:31It's like, if you got a Patrick Mahomes, I can't evaluate you as an offense coordinator,
03:36but for him to have that success with Alex Smith and a Mitch Trubisky, that I think this is the guy
03:41for that job and for Jackson Dart's development. And we talk about how that was such a priority
03:46when it came to picking John Harbaugh and now an experienced offense coordinator from what you've
03:52heard, how much input or contact did Dart have with Nagy and all the other coordinates that were
03:59serious candidates for that job?
04:02Yeah, he was involved. I mean, he, he had his say, he met, he met with most of them. I don't know for a
04:08fact he talked with Nagy, but I assume that he did. I doubt they would hire him without Jackson
04:14Dart having a introductory meeting. If they, if he met other guys who did not get the job,
04:20as I know that he did. Dart obviously was pulling for Charlie Weiss Jr. That's who he knows. I don't
04:27believe most quarterbacks, and I certainly don't believe Jackson Dart as a second year quarterback
04:32with great confidence in himself was going to say, was going to rule out anybody for John Harbaugh.
04:37It's more like a, yeah, I think I can work with this guy. I like him. Yeah. Sounds good. I'm excited
04:44about it. It's not like Jackson Dart was going to go in and say, no, absolutely not. And it's not like
04:49John Harbaugh was going to say, oh, Jackson Dart's really making the hire. You got to decide him. It's
04:54more of a, like, I want to show that I respect your opinion kind of thing, even though it's really my
05:00decision. This isn't Brian Dable letting Malik neighbors call the plays.
05:03Which didn't they score on that, on that play with neighbors call?
05:08I don't know. He probably, I think he called like a whole season.
05:12Okay. There's ask mad, no mad. And then there's ask Malik when it comes to the Giants and Brian
05:18Dable. But we were both at the introductory press conference for John Harbaugh. You were snazzy.
05:24You had your J's on and everything. And when he was up there, he said that he was going to try
05:31and bring in the best coaches and best coordinators. Denar Wilson is going to call the defense. We know
05:37the success he had two years ago in Tennessee. Chris Horton is going to be the special teams
05:42coordinator. And now Matt Nagy is going to call the offense. Do the Giants have better coordinators,
05:48offensive, defensively, and special teams right now than they did at this point last year?
05:55For sure. It's probably the best coordinators they've had in my eight years or nine years,
05:59whatever it is of being around this team. They've been there, done that. Nothing about play calling
06:08is going to be a surprise to them when you think back to some of the guys they've had who stepped
06:15into it, who didn't have experience or were ill fitted for the personnel that they inherited.
06:22I don't think that that is the case here at all. What's interesting, Brandon, is the Giants fan
06:27meltdown, right? Like the idea was in Harbaugh, we trust, right? Like we finally got our head coach.
06:34He's got an 18 year track record, like whatever he says I'm on board with. And then Matt Nagy is not a
06:41sexy hire in any regard. He's, you know, a retread, so to speak. And today Giants fans are like,
06:48oh God, this hire. And it's like, well, no, hold on. Wait a second. Like Brian Dayball didn't make this
06:53hire on the hot seat or relative unknown at the time. Joe Judge didn't make this hire and you can trust
07:00him. Like, no, like this is a guy whose coordinator track record is pretty good. So if you want, if the
07:06idea was we want John Harbaugh because we trust his decision-making, then you got to trust his
07:11decision-making and you can question it, you know, after week one or after week five, but I don't
07:17think you can question it today. I think you got to say John Harbaugh knows what he's doing. This is
07:21why we hired John Harbaugh. So in Harbaugh, we trust should last past February 3rd. Last question,
07:27because I don't want you to miss the free hot breakfast that they have at the hotels out there.
07:32Uh, you're rubbing shoulders with some of NFL's brightest, uh, people, brightest minds,
07:38some of the elite people within the, within the league. What are they saying about John Harbaugh's
07:44Giants so far? Uh, yeah, I talked to Mike McDonald, the Seahawks head coach last night, who's a
07:51Harbaugh understudy of nine years and said, John's really excited about it. Uh, going to bring all the
07:58same principles. What's interesting is Mike McDonald is a graduate of the Ravens coaching
08:04internship program. I think he was maybe the first class, uh, Harbaugh is going to bring that
08:09program to the Giants. Uh, what a poster boy to say, Hey, look who started here. The guy who's
08:15coaching on Sunday. Uh, so, um, he said, McDonald basically said, no one's had a bigger influence
08:21on his coaching beliefs and his style than Harbaugh. Everybody I've talked to out here for the last
08:26two days is like very confident that he's going to get the Giants going in the right direction very
08:32soon. All right. Have fun out there, Ryan. I'm jealous. Uh, appreciate you hopping to our early
08:37this morning. Thanks Brandon.
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