When the New York Giants decided to Matt Nagy to be their new offensive coordinator, many deemed it to be the worst OC hire of the offseason... until the Arizona Cardinals said hold my beer. Mike LaFleur, in all of his first-time head coaching glory, settled on Nathaniel Hackett of all people to be the Cardinals' new OC.
The Cardinals are regarded as one of the most inept franchises in sports, and this is precisely why. They hired a first-time coach who hasn't called plays since 2022, since Sean McVay was the offensive play-caller for the Rams, and followed that up by hiring his successor with the Jets as his OC.
For all of the flak you can give Harbaugh for settling on a really uninspiring OC pick, at least it isn't the worst of the offseason anymore. The Cardinals one-upped them by making a hire that is 100 times worse, so Giants fans should feel better about hiring Nagy to get the most out of Jaxson Dart.
For as vanilla as his offense can be, at least Nagy is a Super Bowl-winning OC whose worked with Patrick Mahomes in KC and was able to lead a team led by Mitch Trubisky to the playoffs. The only reason Hackett even still has a career is because of Aaron Rodgers, so as much as this much as this sounds like copium, I know who I would trust Dart's development with more.
Somehow, the Giants didn't hire the worst offensive coordinator of the offseason
The one defense you can give LaFleur is that he'll be calling plays in Arizona and that Hackett comes with a wealth of experience, but that doesn't matter. For as experienced as the 46-year-old is, he showed nothing in the last four years that warranted another opportunity as an offensive coordinator.
The only time Hackett was successful as an OC was when prime Rodgers was his quarterback, and as soon as he left Green Bay, his career fell off a cliff. In Denver, he brought in another elite QB, Russell Wilson, but the Broncos ranked dead last in points per game, and he was fired after just 15 games.
When he reunited with Rodgers with the New York Jets after LaFleur was let go, he was stripped of play-calling duties after just four games when Robert Saleh was fired. From there, their offense improved considerably once Todd Downing took over, which has to be the saddest thing I've heard all day.
Do you know how incompetent you have to be for an offense to fare better when you aren't given any real responsibility? This is at the level of Ben McAdoo-level ineptitude, and that may be generous to Hackett. Nagy as OC is a low-ceiling hire, but Hackett comes with a low ceiling and an even lower floor.
Turns out, it could have been so much worse for Giants fans. Thanks for making Harbs not look as bad for hiring Nagy.