Thomas McGaughey is Cooking Up Some Giants Gumbo on Special Teams
Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey has had the advantage of continuity within his unit since taking over as Giants' special teams coordinator in 2018, with a consistent core of role players that typically held the same tasks each week.
That continuity helped the Giants special teams units rank at or near the top-10 in the league in almost every major statistical category in each of the last two seasons.
However, McGaughey won't start the season with that advantage in 2020.
After losing wide receiver and special teams ace Cody Core for the season to a torn Achilles, McGaughey will need to dip into the Giants' talent pool and figure out what lineups work.
Core's absence could open up an opportunity for young players such as receivers Austin Mack, Derrick Dillon, Binjimen Victor, Alex Bachman, and David Sillls V.
McGaughey’s s choices aren’t limited to the young players. Head coach Joe Judge, once a special teams coordinator, knows all about the importance of putting the best players on special teams, and if those players happen to be starters, then so be it.
“You are trying to put guys back there that are going to make plays,” McGaughey said. “To me, that’s no different than the quarterback position, the wide receiver position, the running back position.
“You want to be able to maximize the field position by being able to make plays and put your best players back there.”
"Anytime you can create continuity, that's what you want, but sometimes you have to make do with what you got," McGaughey said.
"Sometimes it might be chicken gumbo, sometimes it might be shrimp gumbo or whatever. Whatever I have for that week, that's what I have to work with. That's the process of being a special teams coach in the NFL."
For McGaughey, having that mixture of players in 2020 will be even more critical than in past seasons. If injuries pile up, the Giants, along with every other NFL team, will have a much harder time bringing in external replacements due to the current COVID-19 protocols.
"You're always looking for backups in emergency situations," McGaughey said. "But this year more than ever, you want to do a better job of identifying guys and just turn over every rock, and just see what kind of skills everybody on the roster has so we can maximize the roster from top to bottom."
McGaughey's philosophy extends to the team's specialists as well.
One example is kicker Graham Gano, who has a history as a punter from his college days, where he became one of only two punters ever to be named the MVP of a bowl game (2008 Champs Sports Bowl).
Fortunately for McGaughey, he believes that the Giants' roster is loaded with players that boast multiple talents and can be applied to different aspects of special teams.
"It's amazing what you'll find when you start to look," McGaughey said. "These guys have been stud athletes their whole life. We got a plethora of guys that can snap, we got a ton of guys that can kick, we got a bunch of guys that can punt, so if we ever get caught in a pinch, I don't think it will be an issue."
