For Giants O-line, D-backs, Experience is the Best Teacher

When Giants head coach Joe Judge put his assistant coaching staff together, he was interested in hiring the best possible teachers he could find.

And if a few of those assistants turned out to be former NFL players hired to teach the current crop of players on the team, even better.

Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is probably the most high-profile of the former NFL players on Judge's staff given his role, but two guys at the position unit level who have a big task ahead of them are defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson and offensive line coach Marc Colombo.

Henderson, 51 years old, was a second-round pick in 1991 by the Patriots, for whom he’d play through 1993 and then again in 1996. In between, he made stops in Buffalo and Philadelphia before finishing his career for the Jets in 1998 before beginning his coaching career almost ten years later with the Jets as their assistant defensive backs coach.

The 41-year-old Colombo, a first-round pick by the Chicago Bears in 2002 out of Boston College, found new life with the Dallas Cowboys under then-head coach Bill Parcells after the Bears gave up on Colombo after an injury-filled tenure.

A 6’8” offensive tackle who played right tackle, Colombo spent the 2005-10 seasons in Dallas, where he would eventually cross paths with Jason Garrett, now the Giants offensive coordinator, before finishing his career in Miami in 2011.

What Colombo and Henderson bring as former players could very well make a difference for two position groups that need to take a quantum leap in 2020.

“I think it's an advantage you know, because a lot of the things I'm coaching I've been in that situation before,” Henderson told reporters Friday during a video conference call.

“I always want to be a coach who can help my guys find answers and teach them on, you know, ‘Tell me what you were thinking right there.’ Like maybe you can think of it a different way. And so I try to be that, that coach who is going to provide answers and give them things that they can do to help themselves.”

Last year the Giants young defensive backs showed glimpses of talent but struggled in trying to figure out what was unfolding before them. According to Pro Football Focus, of those corners and safeties returning from last year’s team, only two of the Giants 11 defensive backs who played defense for the team in 2019—safety/corner Julian Love and safety Jabrill Peppers—had NFL ratings under 85.0.

With the Giants having added even more young faces to their defensive backs room—safety Xavier McKinney and corners Darnay Holmes and Chris Williamson headline the newest acquisitions—Henderson’s goal is to share experience and help groom his pupils for multiple roles on the defense.

“If you watch this system of defense, you'll see that the parts are really interchangeable in the secondary,” Henderson said. “You'll have safety sometimes moving down and playing corner, and you'll have corner sometimes moving back to play safety. So we're asking all those guys to be versatile and learn multiple positions to give us flexibility.”

But with multiple positions can come confusion, which Henderson remembers from his days as a player.

“We play a really tough position,” he said. “The guys we play against are super, super talented. They know where they're going and we're always trying to figure it out and react and cut them off and defend them. It's a hard job. And so as much wisdom as I can impart as well as instruction, I try to do that.”

On the other side of the ball is Colombo, who inherits a group that other than for Kevin Zeitler and Cameron Fleming, all have five or fewer years of experience. That group includes newcomers like first-round pick Andrew Thomas, third-round pick Matt Peart and fifth-round pick Shane Lemieux.

They’ll join, among others, a pair of third-year young veterans who figure to be in the mix for starting jobs on the unit, Will Hernandez and Nick Gates.

Hernandez believes having a former NFL offensive lineman as a coach is a lead the room is a plus.

“He definitely has a lot of inside information as a player himself that he can pass on to us,” Hernandez said earlier this week.

“As far as being there with us, he’s one of us. He’s one of the guys. Of course, you separate that title—when he’s coach, he’s coach. You have that respect line. But it’s cool having somebody who is very similar to everybody in that room and kind of gets it.”

Last season, a slightly more veteran Giants offensive line ranked 22nd in the running game, 17th in pass protection, and 25th in second-level yards, according to Football Outsiders.

Colombo, who has been coaching in the NFL since 2016, is eager to share all the tips and tricks he learned as a player to help the Giants offensive line not only jell faster but play more efficiently.

“I played in the NFL for a while and I think these guys respect that and respect the fact that I've done it, and I’ve seen it,” Colombo said. “I think just learning from the experience that I've had and have been able to teach these guys, they really absorbed a lot right now and they're taking it all in.”

Although Judge made the final call on whom he hired for his staff, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Garrett, clearly a fan of his offensive line coach in Dallas the last two seasons, had some influence in Judge's decision.

“Marc was a hell of a player for us in Dallas,” Garrett said earlier this week. “He was one of those guys that was just a natural leader on our offensive line and throughout our team. He played the game the right way.

“You talk about wanting guys who are going to fight, guys who are smart, tough, disciplined, and play the game at a high level. Marc did that. He was always so prepared. He always approached practice and games the right way and had a really positive impact on everyone around him.”

It's that approach the Giants are hoping to see from their current offensive linemen. Although Colombo has only worked in person with the group on a limited basis so far, he’s been encouraged by what the group has shown him.

“I believe we’re pushing in the right direction,” he said.

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