Heading into the offseason, it was pivotal that the New York Giants hit a home run with their next head coach after moving on from Brian Daboll midseason.
Then, the perfect candidate came into the picture when the Baltimore Ravens surprisingly moved on from John Harbaugh after 18 years with the franchise. Baltimore lost their last game of the regular season against the Pittsburgh Steelers on a missed field goal that would have put them in the playoffs. Giants fans immediately started salivating.
New York didn't waste any time and immediately seized the opportunity to try to land a guy who's not only a proven winner but also a Super Bowl champion. The G-Men got him with Harbs signing a five-year deal to become the fourth HC since moving on from Tom Coughlin 10 years ago.
With the 63-year-old now in the building, the buzz around Big Blue Nation is for real due to Harbaugh's track record, a promising young quarterback in Jaxson Dart, as well as many talented pieces on both sides of the ball. And after every team filled their head coaching positions. And after every team filled their vacancies, the Harbaugh hire was unsurprisingly the best out of all of them.
John Harbaugh hiring deemed the best move this head coaching cycle
In an article for FanSided's NFL SpinZone site, Lou Scataglia ranked every NFL head coaching hire this offseason, and Harbaugh right at the top out of all the hirings:
"With Harbaugh, the Giants now have a proven winner and someone who can stabilize things for a 5-7 year period," Scataglia wrote. "Fortunately for the Giants, the roster already has quite a few pieces that indicate major success could be on the horizon, but they've been missing a head coach to help it all come together."
"Harbaugh's tenure with the Baltimore Ravens got a bit stale, as the early playoff exits just continued to disappoint, but a new beginning for the Giants and the veteran head coach could quickly turn into the G-Men making the playoffs nearly every year," Scataglia added. "At some point, teams have to top hiring first-time head coaches if they continually fail to work out. The Giants got serious and brought in someone who knows how the NFL works. This is a home-run hire."
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The Harbaugh hiring seems to be, and in fact has to be, the move that finally gets the Giants back to respectability again after what has been just a grueling last several seasons. From Ben McAdoo to Pat Shurmur to Joe Judge to Daboll and finally to John Harbaugh, this hiring looks to be the right move for the franchise.
So, shout out to Scataglia for the extra boost in confidence that the G-Men finally got it right.
This Giants roster is too talented to keep finding ways to lose games and continue to be an embarrassment on the field. That streak of futility is poised to come to an end for this once-proud franchise with the hiring of John Harbaugh, especially with the future Hall of Famer being deemed the best move this head-coaching cycle.