The Giants have two new coordinators after announcing their hirings Friday night, but offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will dominate coverage of the moves, for obvious reasons.
(For the record, Patrick Graham is the new defensive coordinator.)
Garrett is back in coaching just weeks after his 10-year run as coach of the Cowboys ended, and he's returning with a division rival. He also faces a big challenge in his new role: Improve an offense that finished tied for 18th in the NFL in scoring and 23rd in total yardage this season.
Garrett might need some time to meet that challenge: He is inheriting quarterback Daniel Jones, running back Saquon Barkley and wideouts Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton, but also a line that was ranked 25th in the league by Football Outsiders.
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"It's a great system he brings with great teaching that will allow our players to go out there and play aggressively," new head coach Joe Judge said, per the Giants' website.
Garrett oversaw a Cowboys offense that ranked first in the NFL in total yards and yards per play and sixth in scoring in 2019, although first-year coordinator Kellen Moore had a big hand in the unit's success, as well. Moore will continue to call plays for Dallas under Garrett's replacement, Mike McCarthy.
Judge said that colleagues who worked with Garrett in the mid-2000s with the Dolphins have told him about "how great a teacher [Garrett] is and how his perspective of the game was through a different lens than most coaches."
"And when he sees it, he's able to communicate it and paint that mental image to the players. And he does a fantastic job of making in-game adjustments," Judge told the Giants' website.
Garrett's most important communications figure to be with Jones, who had an uneven rookie season as Eli Manning's successor (24 touchdown passes, 23 turnovers, 87.7 passer rating). Garrett offered a scouting report of Jones before the Cowboys faced the Giants in Week 9.
"He’s big, he’s athletic, he can throw the ball, he can make plays in the pocket, he can make plays out in space with his feet," Garrett told reporters, per SI.com. "He keeps his eyes up, makes a lot of plays when he’s on the move throwing the ball down the field, plays with a competitive spirit."
It's now up to Garrett to take advantage of those attributes and make Jones the rest of the Giants' offense better as quickly as possible.
