New Orleans Saints Assistant Phil Galiano Interviewing With Buccaneers, Per Report
Per Nick Underhill of neworleans.football, New Orleans Saints special teams assistant Phil Galiano is interviewing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their vacant special teams coordinator position.
Galiano has been with the Saints for five seasons. Working under special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, New Orleans has had one of the NFL's top special teams units for the last several years.
Undrafted rookie K Blake Grupe was 30 of 37 on field goal attempts and converted all of his 40 extra point tries in 2023. Punter Lou Hedley, also an undrafted rookie, was near the bottom of the league in net average but was among the NFL's best in punts inside an opponent’s 20-yard line.
Second-year WR Rashid Shaheed averaged 13.6 yards per punt return, earning his first All-Pro selection. The Saints were the league's best in covering kicks and punts. They allowed only 18.8 per kickoff return and a meager 5.6 yards per punt return.
New Orleans Saints special teams assistant Phil Galiano. Credit: New Orleans Saints
Prior to joining the Saints, Galiano was a defensive consultant and special teams coordinator at Penn State in 2017 and 2018. He was the special teams coach for the National Team at the Senior Bowl this past weekend.
Galiano has worked for the Buccaneers before. He was a special teams assistant for Tampa Bay in 2012 and 2013. Before joining the Saints, this had been his only NFL coaching position.
If Galiano leaves, he'd be the sixth New Orleans assistant to depart this offseason. The Saints parted ways with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, WR coach Kodi Burns, offensive line coach Doug Marrone, and senior offensive assistant Bob Bicknell last month. They also lost RB coach Joel Thomas, who left to take the same position for the New York Giants.
