Why Giants Should Hire This Defensive Coordinator Candidate

Sometimes, all it takes to find something truly unique is to peek inside your own walls. That includes the New York Giants, who are presently considering applicants for the defensive coordinator position that was left open by the unexpected resignation of Wink Martindale last month. Since then, Giants head coach Brian Daboll has met with seven candidates; two of them, Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich and Ravens defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, have since left the running after accepting positions as defensive coordinators with the Bills and Titans, respectively.

But one of the remaining candidates currently resides in-house and is a very well-respected assistant coach who, like Wilson, once played in the NFL as a defensive back and who, like Wilson (believed to have been the favorite before he accepted the Titans job offer), has never called plays at the NFL level.

That would be 54-year-old Jerome Henderson, an NFL assistant coach since 2007 when he broke into the business with the New York Jets. Henderson, along with since fired special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, were holdovers from Joe Judge’s original coaching staff hired in 2020, and unlike McGaughey, Henderson remains on solid footing. Henderson, who has worked wonders with the Giants defensive backs–see Xavier McKinney, Jason Pinnock, Dane Belton, Deonte Banks, and Tre Hawkins for examples–makes the most logical sense to succeed Martindale because not only is he well versed in the defensive personnel, he could also continue the core philosophies of the existing scheme that the players raved bout, adding his personal touches here and there to tighten up some of the issues that plagued the scheme. Because Henderson is already familiar with the personnel, the Giants won’t have to necessarily worry about needing to play catch up with the scouting combine on deck. Henderson would no doubt be familiar with what the Giants need on defense and could make recommendations to Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen to help steer the defense to the next level.

Some have said on X (previously known as Twitter) that the Giants are “settling for scraps,” but this isn’t the case for Henderson’s possible hire. Henderson is a trustworthy, diligent coach who, although his contributions may go unnoticed by the general public, is regarded as an MVP inside 1925 Giants Drive. For this reason, he ought to get the opportunity to demonstrate his abilities in a more significant capacity.