Former Oakland Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio is the favorite to land the New York Giants defensive coordinator job should the team hire Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as their next head coach, Chris Mortenson of ESPN reported on Sunday.
Shurmur cannot negotiate or be hired until his season ends as his Vikings are preparing for an NFC Championship Game matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles later on Sunday. But he does have a second interview with the Giants sometime this week and has made it known that he wouldn’t mind bringing Del Rio on as his defensive coordinator, per Mortenson.
It was reported last week that Shurmur is the clear frontrunner for the Giants’ head coaching job.
The Giants look to be parting ways with Steve Spagnuolo, the team’s defensive coordinator who stepped in as interim head coach last season after Ben McAdoo was fired prior to Week 14. Spagnuolo was one of the head coaching candidates interviewed by the Giants over the last few weeks.
Del Rio is coming off a three-year stint as the Raiders head coach, going 25-23 with a postseason appearance before being fired after a season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in December. It was his second stint as a head coach in the NFL after eight-plus years with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2003-2011.
The 54-year-old has a combined four years experience as a defensive coordinator as well where his units have excelled more often than not.
In 2002 with the Carolina Panthers, Del Rio’s defense was ranked second in yards allowed and fifth in points allowed before being hired by Jacksonville.
Ten years later, he joined the Denver Broncos as their defensive coordinator where once again, his defense allowed the second-least amount of yards in the league and the fourth-least amount of points. Two years later, Denver’s defense was ranked third in the NFL before he joined Oakland.
