John Harbaugh on Finding Giants “Torchbearers,” New Coaching Staff, and Lamar Jackson’s Future

All right.

Welcome back to the MMQB podcast.

We're so lucky to have the head coach of the New York Giants, John Harbaugh, with us.

John, have you even been able to unpack your boxes yet?

Are you home?

Like, do you, you're back from the Greenbrier, Miami.

Like, you know, like, uh, do you feel like you're settled in here yet?

Do you live here yet, or no, like, yeah, we're traveling football team right now, you know, it's been, it's been great.

It's been good to get away a little bit.

I think it's been good for our team bonding, you know, it's, it's, it's a good thing to be on the road away from home and just with each other and have dinner together and things like that and Nothing else to do but football.

I mean, I'm a football coach, so I like when the guys have nothing else but football.

Um, what do you think?

Like, you, you mentioned the bonding aspect of it.

Like there are a lot of teams have come back to their facilities now.

I know , you know, when you were in Baltimore, you guys went to Westminster earlier in your time, and then you wind up bringing it back home.

Um, do you think there's still a benefit in going away and getting that time where you guys got 10 days in West Virginia.

Another 4 days in Miami where it's just you guys and there's nobody else kind of there.

It's a great question.

I, I see all the reasons for not doing it because the facilities are so nice now.

I mean they're beautiful.

And how do you, how do you spend 2 weeks or whatever away from these amazing facilities, yet at the same time.

There's nothing like that, that time together, you know, the old, you know, Remember the Titans, you know, kind of deal.

It's actually real, you know, it's, it's, it's uh, it's something that does bring a team closer together.

Yeah.

So where are you at right now just as far as putting the team together, because I think, you know, one thing I, I said this to, to Joe when we had him out here was how identifiable your teams have always been.

I've said that to your brother too, like it's just, you kind of know a John Harbaugh team when you see it.

Um, and it's a process getting there.

I'm, I'm, I'm sure of player acquisition, you know, putting them through different things, um, just as far as that process from where you were in January when you took the job, where is it as far as building the identity you're looking to build?

Well, and I appreciate you saying that, and I think some of the fundamental things, you know , the principles are definitely things that that we set in stone that we expect from, it would be from any team, you know, that we would be coaching the guys I'm with and everything.

So that's part of it.

But the other part of it is the identity of the team is still formed and forged by the players.

The type of players you have, you know, what they, what they believe in, what they stand for, what they're willing to fight for, you know, that really, you can't , you can't impose that on anybody.

Guys have to believe in it and they have to be, they have to be, it has to be their idea too, and I feel like that's what we're trying to forge.

So those kind of things going together is always a work in progress.

I don't care if you've been there for, you know, 18 days or 18 years or whatever it is, it's always going to be a work in progress and you build that.

I feel like we're in a really great place with that.

I feel like our guys really understand.

And really want to promote what they want the team to be, you know, and we talk about it every day together.

We show it on tape.

It, it kind of comes up in our shared experiences every single day, and I, I feel like we're building that.

We're as far along as we could be right now, and I'm looking forward to where we take it in the next few weeks.

Where did you see schematic coming?

Ground with Greg Roman and Matt Naggie and what attracted you to that combination and and the second part of that is as someone who's overseeing it, when do you step in?

When do you want to step in, check on how that's going?

I mean, how does that process?

That's a that's a very broad and very well asked question.

First of all, for the schematic common ground, where did I see it?

Nowhere.

There was, there was no schematic common ground, you know, and that was to me kind of the, the, the, uh, the interesting part about the whole thing.

And so I, I think what they had is a, a , a willingness and a desire to build something unique that will be unique to the Giants right now.

And, and, and, you know, Callahan's part of that.

You got, you know, you know, Tim is a part of that.

We got, uh, Bloom, our offensive line coach is a part of that.

We've got so many great coaches.

Chad Hall, guys are doing a great job of building that whole thing.

You got Willie Taggart, you know, he's been a part of that.

So I feel like, I feel like.

What everybody brings to the table, as long as they're willing to work together, set their egos aside, and build something that's great for our players at our time along along the lines of the identity that we want to build, where do I step in, uh, whenever needed.

I feel like I'm needed, you know, like, you know, today we're talking about play action passes, and I was looking for some, you know, what are our play action pass ideas out of these certain formations that we might end up being in early in the season, and that's something that.

You know they're thinking about too, but it's always good to just, you know, just keep working together, reminding each other, but they build it, they're building it as a group of guys and I'm very confident in their ability to do it.

To following that, like I remember being in your postgame press conference, that game that where it was clear that you guys were pivoting to Lamar.

It was Lamar was that was his first playoff start and hey, this offseason you kind of foreshadowed the fact that we're building something for him and that's what we're gonna do this offseason.

The NFL couldn't have seen that coming and it clearly didn't see that coming.

Do we did call it the revolution.

Yeah.

You let them know.

I mean, yeah.

Do you have a similar energy because like you said, you're building something schematically with two coaches who in a, in a very interesting way have no common ground.

Like, do you have the same energy to that?

Yeah, exactly.

I do.

I do.

You know, it's, it won't be like that.

You know, that was, that was a profound thing that changed football, just being, anybody would have to say that you can't change football again.

No, yeah , maybe we will, you know.

Everybody, but, uh, but, uh, there is that same kind of energy because to me you should always be thinking that way, and we were thinking that way even in Baltimore as the years went on, even, even like when Todd came in, you know, that was, that was kind of a profound change in that offense as well.

And I think, you know, you look at Lamar, if I'm just sitting back looking at it now it's another.

Profound change for Lamar, and I think that's a great thing.

I, you know, I get it.

I think they'll be really, really great this year because of it.

So those are things you've always got to kind of keep it moving and keep evolving, and now I get a chance to do that here with Jackson Dartton and the guys here on offense.

So yeah, it's exciting.

What are we going to build?

What's it going to look like?

How are we going to make it work and then.

Adjust it as you go.

You mentioned it's like a different level when the players have ownership, right?

Like you can talk as a coach all you want, but if you've got the guys like the torchbearers in the locker room, then it's gonna go a lot further, right?

Have you, have you found your torchbearers in the locker room yet?

Oh yeah, yeah, we've got, we've got great leaders here, you know, and, you know, there's a lot of torchbearers.

I mean, way more than I could just say.

It's not just we have the leadership council who the guys voted for, you know, the kind of your captain, so to speak, but you've also got a bunch of guys in that locker room that are, I'm gonna give you Abdul Carter.

You know, here's Abdul Carter, who's a 2nd year guy.

He's not gonna be on the leadership council just yet.

He will be soon, I'm sure in his career.

He'll be a captain, but this guy has been a torchbearer.

He's been a torchbearer at practice every single day by the way he practices and what he demands of the guys around him.

He demands that these guys practice at a high level, that they get in there and lift weights the way they're supposed to, that they know what they're doing.

This is a young guy, you know, a young guy who's just making a statement every single day by the way he's operating, you know .

I think we have a lot of guys like that, you know.

Thi Thibodeaux is another guy, same.

doing the same thing and you got Brian Burns who is your, your torchbearer, so to speak, the captain.

So yeah, Javon Holland is doing an amazing job with that.

We bring in Greg Newsom .

He's done a, done a really good, I think he's been excellent that way, you know, he's been around the block.

So a lot of, a lot of good dudes.

It looks crazy too with all the tall, long, like I, like I, I, I that's gonna be exciting for you, right?

Like you look at the Burns and Thibodeaux and Reese and like it's like holy crap, like all these guys are 6'4, 6'5 with like arms down to the ground like.

Um, like that's got to be really exciting, like looking, I mean, I, I don't know.

Have you had something quite like that, like where you've got that with volume like the linebacker position, those 4 guys, has anybody had anything quite like that?

I'm gonna have, you're gonna have to go back and look and see.

I don't, I don't know that there's been, hey, it remains to be seen.

It's, it's how you play , not what you look like, but I don't know if anybody's had 4 or 5 guys like that.

I put Thibodeaux in that category too, like that, you know, playing linebacker, uh, all 4 different spots.

Pretty unique.

I'm curious, like, you talk about the offensive evolution.

I feel like we're kind of in this really exciting defensive evolutionary period, so many creative coordinators and fun things.

What's it like to have that at a time where, like, the, it's almost like the McVeigh years and all that, but it's.

Feels like defensively now there's a lot more creative thought being passed around, well, you know, and it's like I just, just being honest about it, I'm proud of it too because, you know, we, we, we started something in 2018 with Wink, you know, and even before that, you know, Dean kind of Rex, Rex, Rex, and then, and then Dean, and then, and then with Wink, we revamped the whole thing around and then I brought, I brought Dean back a couple of years ago and kind of injected things back into the whole deal, but along the way, all those guys have gone on to be coordinators around the league.

And they're all building their style now.

Denard went on to be a coordinator and came back.

Now, now, so we're back in the same system.

He, he's back here and it is a system, but it's got now Dennard's got some spins on it that are unique to him, you know, the ways we play some of the coverages are are unique to Denard.

So then you see, like you say, these coordinators, there's a system that was built, at least in our world.

Vic Fangio's done it like Vic Fangio's got.

Guys, so, so you got the Fangio system, right?

But, uh, you know, all these, these families, these groupings, and then you see, I see Mike go out, I see Jesse go out, and, you know, the things that they're doing, you know, Anthony Weaver, um, those guys go out and do these things, and you're just like, it's really fun to watch.

I mean, we'll put, I'll put the tape on, you know, I start watching.

I was like, oh, OK, all right, you know, that looks familiar with us.

What's he doing there?

You know, that's a good idea.

So, uh, yeah, the, the creativity in the National Football League , like you're saying, defense and offense, special teams too, it's unbelievable.

It's really.

I mean if you're, if you're a football, you know, if you, if you really like digging into football, it's a, it's a great time to watch football.

I was gonna ask you to ask, what was that like watching Mike win the Super Bowl last year?

I mean, I know you'd rather have it be you, right?

Like, but, but, but I mean seeing and now Jesse's a head coach and like it just, and these guys coach for both you and your brother and like.

I, like, I feel like there's like another level to being a head coach in the NFL where it's like, man, like I'm passing it on and there are guys that like I brought up that are now in these positions.

There's no question about it.

Like to see Mike, I mean, you, you knew, you knew who we were rooting for.

I mean, my, my niece, my nephew Jay's a special teams coordinator too, so that was an easy one.

But, but Mike is like family, you know, and, and, uh, and, and we were talking up, you know, during the week a little bit and just seeing in that game plan and watching on tape and seeing what he's doing, and I can call every defense and see what.

But he calls at the right time, so brilliantly, you know, and, um, you know, we got Robbie now in Oakland.

He's running, he's in Oakland, scratch that scratch.

So we got Robbie now out in Vegas, and uh he's, he's putting that system in too as well, but he, putting his spin on it.

So you do your, your Jesse, of course, I'm, I'm rooting for Jesse because, you know, he's Jesse, but he's also my brother's coordinator, so.

Oh yeah, it's, it's, it's cool.

We'll get you out of here with this.

We asked Jackson Dart the same thing.

What are you most confident is New York, New Jersey about you now that you live here?

What is the most New York, New Jersey thing about John Harbaugh now that you've gotten here?

What's rubbed off on you?

Well, I know my way home now.

And that's not, but I did, I did take, I was on the phone yesterday, so I got lost.

I, I'm a, I'm a pizza guy.

I love pizza and the pizza here is, you know, it's off the charts.

So I'm, I'm going with the pizza.

I know everybody probably says I, I could, I haven't had a bad pizza here.

I have not had a bad pizza here, you know.

Even the cafe our cafeteria here makes amazing pizza.

They say it's the water.

That's what they say, yeah, that's the bagels too, right?

The bagels, the bagels too, is because of the water, yeah, because of the water, yeah.

Is that, is that a good thing, or I, I don't really understand it either.

I like somebody else.

Yeah, I, I like, and I know what not to ask John, which is like I remember when we were together in March, I asked him, does he have, does he have a new energy?

And like, I, I know you got the same energy you always had, right?

Like, right ?

Like I know you always had the same energy, um.

What about the newness of this?

Like, because I, I know like you, you put full energy into everything you do, and it was never lacking anywhere.

But like, what is the newness of this been like for you?

The newness is, is, you know, I think there's a time and a place for everything and everybody, you know, and that's why, that's why I'm excited for Baltimore, you know.

It's not for me to, to say that I'm, I'm , I want Baltimore to win.

I think Jesse's the perfect guy right there.

I love, I love Anthony Weaver.

I love everybody.

There, you know, I want Lamar to be, I want Lamar to win Super Bowls, you know, so I, I think it's a perfect time just to make my point.

It's a perfect time here for me and for the Giants, you know, this is the right place to be at the right time, and I'm able to be myself right now.

Like I, like, like, you know, as much as I've ever been able to be myself.

I can really cut it loose and I can be me, and I'm enjoying that and I think the players are enjoying it too, you know, I think we're having a lot of fun.

Uh, it remains to be seeing how well we do, but I can, now that I'm here and I've been here for a few months and we, and we've been through training camp, you know, I can, I can, I can, you know, put my head on the pillow, talk to God, and just basically say, OK, I get it now.

I get it now.

I, I see what you're doing with this, you know, and I can't wait to see what the, I can't wait to see what the next plans are.

That's awesome.

John Harbaugh, head coach of the New York Giants, thanks so much for doing this with us.

We really appreciate it.

Great being with you two guys.

Appreciate it.

Thanks.