New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur is slowly building his staff. However, two of the most important positions remain unfilled: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Reports surfaced that Shurmur wants Kevin Stefanski as his offensive coordinator. Stefanski was the Vikings’ quarterback coach under Shurmur. He is also a candidate for the Vikings’ offensive coordinator position that was vacated when Shurmur became Giants head coach.
Shurmur mentioned at his introductory news conference that some of his favored candidates were “not quite available”. He could have been referring to two prospective quarterback coach candidates from the Philadelphia Eagles: quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and running backs coach Duce Staley.
Shurmur expressed a desire to have a veteran coach with experience working with quarterbacks on “The Michael Kay Show”. This may take Staley, a former Eagles running back, out of the running in spite of working with Shurmur during his tenure as Eagles offensive coordinator. Staley has only been an assistant coach for only six years and has never worked with quarterbacks while DeFilippo’s contract with the Eagles ends at the conclusion of this season.
The Giants wouldn’t be able to speak with DeFilippo or Staley until after the Eagles play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Stefanski is attractive to the Giants because of his work with Case Keenum, who led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game. He is also relatively young at 35 years of age and in his 12th year with the Vikings. Stefanski has also coached running backs and tight ends.
DeFilippo is also young at 39. He worked with both Carson Wentz (an NFL Most Valuable Player candidate before his season-ending ACL injury) and Nick Foles. DeFilippo is also in the running for the Vikings’ offensive coordinator position.
Shurmur, like his predecessor Ben McAdoo, plans to call the plays on offense.
The Giants have already named James Bettcher as their defensive coordinator. Other members of the coaching staff include Thomas McGaughey (special teams coordinator), Lou Anarumo (defensive backs coach), Anthony Blevins (special teams assistant), Gary Emanuel (defensive line coach), Hal Hunter (offensive line coach), Craig Johnson (running backs coach), Bill McGovern (linebackers coach), Chris Pridy (assistant to the head coach), Tyke Tolbert (wide receivers coach), and Lunda Wells (tight ends coach).
– Curtis Rawls is a Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage and covers the NFL and the New York Giants. Please like and follow on Facebook and Twitter. Curtis can be followed on Twitter @CuRawls203.
