Expectations immediately went through the roof when the New York Giants hired John Harbaugh to be their next head coach.
Harbaugh brings 18 successful seasons with the Baltimore Ravens to the Giants, including many playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title. Now, as he begins his stint in New York, expectations are rightfully sky-high for Big Blue.
With the start of the offseason now in full swing, Harbaugh has already compiled his coaching staff for the 2026 season, as the start of the NFL Combine is now underway and the NFL Draft is also on the horizon. Despite a little to no blowback on the staffing hires the 63-year-old made, Harbaugh was close to reuniting with a familiar face that would've been the capper on a great offseason for the Giants.
Todd Monken was set to take the OC job for the Giants before being hired by the Browns
During an exclusive interview with Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, Todd Monken revealed that he was preparing to reunite with Harbaugh and become Big Blue's offensive coordinator before ultimately hired as the Cleveland Browns head coach.
“I was hopeful I would get the Cleveland Browns head-coaching job, that would be silly to say I wasn’t hopeful of that. But I was excited to go to New York with Coach [Harbaugh]," Monken told Schwartz.
The OC job eventually went to Matt Nagy.
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Monken and Harbaugh are, of course, very familiar with each other. Monken spent the last three seasons as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator and was a major factor in the Ravens clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC in 2023, as well as Lamar Jackson winning his second MVP. Baltimore reached the AFC title game that year but fell to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Over Monken’s three seasons leading the offense, the Ravens averaged nearly 30 points per game, with the 2024 campaign being a historic one for Baltimore, as the offense totaled 7,224 yards and 30.5 points per game.
If there has been anything anemic about the Giants over the last several seasons, it has been their offense, and Todd Monken seemed like the perfect fit once Harbaugh was hired as head coach to become the G-Men’s OC.
That is clearly no longer a reality as the Giants can now hope the aforementioned Matt Nagy can elevate Jaxson Dart's game this season after an impressive rookie campaign.