John Harbaugh is trusting that Giants' new-look offensive coaching staff doesn't have 'too many cooks'
Giants quarterback coach Brian Callahan speaks at mandatory minicamp on Wednesday in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Ed Murray
The hiring of John Harbaugh sent a signal to the Giants that experience matters. It wasn’t just about getting the right coach, but one who knew more about running and developing a team.
Harbaugh carried that same philosophy with his offensive coaching staff. He hired a former head coach as offensive coordinator in Matt Nagy. He added another former head coach with Brian Callahan as quarterbacks coach.
The goal, it seems, is mature a young quarterback with mature voices. Jaxson Dart definitely needs proven teachers to help raise his play and this Giants offense.
Yet that begs two questions. Are there too many cooks in the kitchen? Can you never have enough teachers in the room? Let Callahan tell it: More opinions make for a stronger system with everyone blending what they know from their careers.
“We’ve got some really smart coaches,” Callahan said Wednesday after the Giants wrapped up their three-day mandatory minicamp. “It’s probably the most experienced from top to bottom offensive staff I’ve been around. It’s stimulating. It’s exciting.”
Callahan spent the last two seasons as Titans head coach. He also worked with Matthew Stafford as Lions quarterbacks coach and Joe Burrow as Bengals offensive coordinator for four years. Nagy led the Bears for four seasons and won two Super Bowls on Andy Reid’s staff in Kansas City.
Adding Greg Roman as a senior offensive assistant brings even more proven expertise to the staff. But Nagy stressed there won’t be any problem checking egos. Instead, the focus is building on the Giants’ fifth-ranked rushing attack and taking their quarterback to another level.
“Let’s not worry about whose idea it is,” Nagy said in April. “Let’s make it our idea, and let’s run with it. Let’s make it make sense to the guys, and let’s go out there and figure out as we go through OTAs and into training camp what we’re going to look like.”
For Dart’s sake, the new staff has to do that well. He’s already been challenged this spring trying to develop chemistry with almost all new receivers due to Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton being out with injuries.
Dart added there’s more under-center action in this system instead of mostly playing shotgun last season. It’s requiring more command of things to kill plays or give out alerts at the line of scrimmage.
“It’s a lot of things I haven’t done before,” Dart said. “So it’s been fun to get new experiences, try new things, have communications with the coaches on what I like, what they like and get a ton of reps at it.”
That sounds like a reminder to perhaps temper expectations on his second-year leap. More information to process in a new offense means more room for mistakes along with progress.
Take Tuesday, for instance. Dart completed a deep pass to Odell Beckham Jr., who was wide open due to a coverage bust. He also was intercepted by Greg Newsome jumping on a slant route.
That’s what spring is for. Learning from errors and refining or sharpening what’s been established. That’s why it’s key that the offensive coaches around Dart use their shared wisdom to raise his play and not lead to indecisiveness and errors.
It also means Dart is open to more critiques. Both Callahan and Roman reviewed film with him to go over protecting himself from big hits. Callahan asked on multiple plays if it was worth the risk to get more yards or be smart.
Dart, Callahan said, understood the need to be careful without sacrificing his dual-threat ability.
“I think he proved to all of his teammates and people in this league that he’s a really tough player and there’s a time and place,” Callahan said. “He’s already proved that so we can move on from that.
“He’s incredibly coachable, very open-minded and I think he understands that for us to be the team we want to be, we need him on the field.”
Yes, Dart’s decision-making must improve. But so should his development. That’s where the Giants adding experienced coaches such as Nagy and Callahan comes in.
They must prove if their wisdom can elevate Dart and this offense or sink it with information overload. With the Giants off for seven weeks until training camp, the process continues for Nagy and Callahan to determine which outcome takes shape Sept. 13 when the season starts.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
