SI:AM | John Harbaugh Gives the Giants Something They’ve Been Missing for a Decade

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. This is a historic edition of SI:AM. For the first time, I’ve had to write the last 20% of the newsletter on my phone after my power went out.

In today’s SI:AM:

🔵 Giants get their man
⚾️ Red Sox’ free-agent pivot
🐻 Ja Morant destinations

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Big Blue’s big get

John Harbaugh wasn’t looking for a new job for long. According to multiple reports, Harbaugh and the Giants are finalizing a deal that would make him the franchise’s next head coach.

ESPN‘s Jordan Raanan was first to report late Wednesday night that Harbaugh was expected to reach a deal with the Giants “barring any setbacks.” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported early Thursday morning that Harbaugh had accepted the job and that the two sides were finalizing a five-year contract that would make him “one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches.”

The Giants seemed like Harbaugh’s most likely landing spot from the moment he was fired by the Ravens last week. According to The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor and Charlotte Carroll, Harbaugh told at least one person shortly after being fired, “I think this is the job for me,” referring to the Giants’ position. Hours after the Ravens dumped Harbaugh, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that he was expected to become the favorite for the Giants’ job.

Harbaugh met with Giants officials yesterday at the team’s offices in New Jersey and flew back to his home near Baltimore on Giants co-owner Steve Tisch’s private jet last night with no deal in place. He had been expected to meet with the Titans today about their head coach opening. Present at Harbaugh’s meeting with Giants brass were Tisch, co-owner John Mara, general manager Joe Schoen and senior personnel consultant Chris Mara (John Mara’s brother). Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was also present to try to recruit Harbaugh. The coach told at least one person that Dart gave him “a lot to be excited about,” The Athletic reported.

Hiring Harbaugh should give Giants fans a lot to be excited about, too. He offers the team something it hasn’t had since Tom Coughlin’s 12-year tenure as coach ended in 2015: an experienced leader. New York has had four different head coaches (not including interims) in the 10 years since Coughlin resigned. Worse yet, only one of them had any previous head coaching experience at any level. Pat Shurmur, who went 9–23 in his two seasons in charge, had two equally disastrous seasons as the coach of the Browns in 2011 and ’12. Ben McAdoo, Joe Judge and Brian Daboll had never been head coaches before.

The Giants have had just two winning seasons since Coughlin’s departure: an 11–5 finish in 2016 (McAdoo’s first season) and 9-7-1 in ’22 (Daboll’s first year). They’re a combined 55-109-1 since the start of the ’16 season, the second-worst record in the NFL over that span. (Only the Jets, at 49–116, have been worse.) Harbaugh’s Ravens, on the other hand, went 103–62 in the regular season over that same span, the third-highest win total in the NFL behind the Chiefs and Bills.

The Harbaugh hire is a new approach for the Giants in another way, too. With the exception of Judge, a former Patriots special teams coordinator, each of their recent coaches has been offensive-minded. That follows the trend of the previous decade, where it seemed as though every team was only hiring supposed offensive geniuses. But hiring practices have begun to shift in recent years. DeMeco Ryans, a former linebacker and defensive coordinator, brought the Texans out of a rough stretch and has won at least 10 games in three straight years. Longtime NFL defensive back Aaron Glenn’s effectiveness as defensive coordinator for the Lions made him a top target in last year’s coaching cycle before he accepted the Jets job. Coaches valued more for their leadership and personnel management skills—like Dan Campbell and Harbaugh’s brother, Jim—have also been successful.

In Harbaugh, the Giants are getting a Hall of Fame-caliber coach with nearly two decades of experience managing an entire coaching staff and dealing with personnel decisions. It’s been a rough 10 years in New York, but if anyone can pull the Giants out of this slide, it’s probably Harbaugh.

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The top five…

… things I saw last night:
5. A beautiful shot by Brady Tkachuk for his 200th goal of his career. (That was one of eight goals the Senators scored in a blowout win over the scuffling Rangers.)
4. The final 30 seconds of the Jazz-Bulls game.
3. The celebrations as second-tier Albacete defeated Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
2. Marta Suárez’s buzzer beater for TCU to stave off an upset bid by West Virginia.
1. Malachi Moreno’s buzzer beater for Kentucky against LSU.