The Giants, as part of their all-out blitz to land John Harbaugh as their head coach, had several former men with ties to the franchise reach out to extol the virtues of the organization.
Former head coach Brian Daboll reportedly spoke glowingly of the team’s ownership, despite being fired midway through the 2025 season. Legendary quarterback and Hall of Fame finalist Eli Manning was another who spoke to Harbaugh, as was Hall of Fame defensive end Michael Strahan.
But if there was one legendary Giant who helped push the deal over the goal line, it was none other than former head coach Tom Coughlin.
“The No. 1 guy for me was Tom Coughlin; I spent a lot of time talking to Tom,” Harbaugh told Albert Breer of SI.com.
“Even today, I talked to Tom numerous times. That was probably my No. 1 go-to guy about the Giants that’s not currently in the organization.”
Another thing that stood out to Harbaugh was the players, some of whom he met during his visit to the Giants, such as quarterback Jaxsn Dart, with whom he spent close to two hours, running back Cam Skattebo, and several others who were in the facility lifting weights.
“I’m just fired up to coach these guys and get to work,” he told Breer. “It’s a great group, and I’m looking forward to building this team up.”
Full circle moment …..I always tell the story of me not watching football. The first full game I watched was the Ravens beating the 49ers in the Super Bowl, Think I was 13. Now I have the opportunity to play for John Harbaugh…LFG!!!!
— Kayvon Thibodeaux (@kayvont) January 18, 2026
Part of that building will come thanks to the Giants agreeing to let Harbaugh drive the bus in building out the football operations, similar to what he had in Baltimore, even if some of those ways went against how the Giants have operated for years.
Harbaugh, whose only formal in-person job interview came with the Giants, met with Big Blue on Wednesday in what was an all-day whirlwind affair.
Hours after returning to his Baltimore home, he decided to accept the Giants’ offer, cancelling a planned meeting with the Titans that was supposed to take place at his home the next day.
Harbaugh’s representatives and the Giants then spent Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday ironing out a few remaining deals in his five-year, $100 million contract, both sides ensuring they were comfortable with the language in the 40+ page document.
Around 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, word came that Harbaugh had agreed to terms with the Giants, with the official signing of the contract presumably taking place early next week and an introductory press conference set for noon on Tuesday at the Giants’ team facility.
What’s next for Harbaugh?
Todd Monken is reportedly a top target for the Giants’ offensive coordinator role. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
John Harbaugh is in for a whirlwind week ahead, undoubtedly the first of many.
He’ll have his introductory press conference, pose for photos with Giants team officials, and do sit-downs with the Giants’ in-house production team.
But the real work will begin once the fanfare dies down, as Harbaugh will get right into organizing his assistant coaching staff.
Harbaugh is scheduled to meet with the remaining members of the Giants’ assistant coaching staff, who will return to work on Tuesday after two weeks off.
At that point, he’ll gauge which of the assistants still under contract he wants to retain and confirm which of that group will want to stay on with the team.
Harbaugh is also expected to seek permission from the Ravens to interview a handful of his assistants.
His offensive coordinator in Baltimore, Todd Monken, has already been linked to the Giants’ job.
Broncos assistant head coach & defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard, who played for Harbaugh in his first season as head coach in Baltimore, is an early favorite for the defensive coordinator job.
And it’s possible that Chris Horton, who is the Ravens’ special teams coordinator and who coached the unit to the top 10 in several categories including yards per punt return (11.1, second), punt returns of 20+ yards (19, fourth), opponent yards per kickoff return (22.0, sixth) and kick return TDs (three, tied for sixth), follows Harbaugh up I-95 as well.
Coaches aside, also coming up on the NFL calendar are the Shrine and Senior Bowls on Jan. 27 and 31, respectively, though it’s unknown at this time if Harbaugh will be attending those.
And down the line, there will be the combine, and because the Giants have a new head coach, they will be able to open their offseason program on April 6, two weeks before the rest of the clubs with returning head coaches.
All the while, Harbaugh will be building out the Giants program as he envisions it.
Mike Kafka draws interest from Giants’ divisional foe
Mike Kafka has drawn interest as an offensive coordinator candidate. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
With Harbaugh now in place and reports of Harbaugh wanting to hire Todd Monken as the offensive coordinator, that leaves former offensive coordinator/interim head coach Mike Kafka looking for a new role elsewhere.
Kafka, who for three years straight was a hot head coaching commodity, has barely drawn any interest around the league this hiring cycle for that role. But he has drawn interest around the league for offensive coordinator positions, including the Bucs, Lions, and most recently, the Eagles.
Kafka is no stranger to the Eagles organization. Kaka, a college quarterback at Northwestern, was originally drafted by the Eagles in the fourth round of the 2010 draft, spending the 2010-2011 seasons with then-head coach Andy Reid.
In 2013, when Reid joined the Chiefs as their head coach, he would eventually bring Kafka with him as an offensive quality control coach in 2017 and a year later as the team’s quarterbacks coach.
The Eagles were also reportedly interested in speaking with Brian Daboll for their offensive coordinator position. Daboll has also drawn some mild interest for head coaching vacancies, most notably with the Titans.
If either man with Giants ties were to get the Eagles job, they would be reunited with running back Saquon Barkley, who, in 2022, Daboll and Kafka’s first season with the Giants as head coach and offensive coordinator, respectively, helped lead the Giants to a 9-7-2 record and their first postseason berth since 2016.
That year, the Giants’ offense finished 18th overall and fourth in rushing yardage (148.2) with Barkley leading the way.
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