Garrett Hire Makes Absolutely No Sense

I have just three words to describe the news that the New York Giants have hired Jason Garrett as their new offensive coordinator: WTF?!

Seriously, the most important coaching position on the team - next to head coach - and Joe Judge picks a guy whose teams have severely underperformed during his nine seasons at the helm, despite having some of the best talent in the NFL. What, Ben McAdoo was unavailable? At least he managed to make Eli Manning a better quarterback. In the four years Dak Prescott has played for the Cowboys, he has regressed as a quarterback under Garrett.

I've cut Judge a lot of slack, mainly because most of the men he's chosen to surround himself with have at least worked with him during his years with the Patriots. Sometimes the devil you know really is better. But this hire makes absolutely no sense, and for two reasons.

First, if you look at the Cowboys and the Giants, they each have one thing in common: both teams boast an immensely talented running back in their backfield. The Cowboys have Ezekiel Elliott, the Giants have Saquon Barkley. If you bothered to watch Dallas this year, it was painfully obvious that Elliott was seriously underutilized. Throughout the season, the Cowboys opted to pass 57 percent of the time. Among teams with elite running backs, only the Rams and Giants had a higher pass to run ratios: both around 62 percent. There's simply no excuse for this. Either Garrett was to blame or his offensive coordinator Kellen Moore was. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter. Moore worked for Garrett. Case closed. Any coach who thought handing the ball off to one of the best running backs in the league wasn't a priority has no business calling plays for a team that ranked 19th in scoring and 23rd in average yards per game last season.

Secondly, it is a cardinal rule that you don't hire former head coaches to run your offense. For one thing, deep down you know they want another crack at running the show. I don't care how fond of the Giants Garrett is, or how much John Mara admires him, this is a ticking time bomb. Sooner or later, another team is going to ask the Giants for permission to speak to Garrett about a possible head coaching job. What are they going to say, no? And if Garrett decides to leave in a year or two, Judge will have to hire a replacement. That'll make three offensive coordinators with three distinct systems that Daniel Jones will have had in four years. Talk about screwing the pooch.

I smell Gettleman all over this move. After Judge hired two ostensibly unknowns for defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, I'll bet my severance package that Mr. "I'm Never Wrong" called up his new head coach and "suggested" he give dear old Jason a call. He probably mentioned how Mr. Mara would be very appreciative of at least considering the ex-Cowboys' coach. And no doubt the point was made that Garrett's familiarity with the Dallas personnel would be extremely beneficial to the Jints next season.

Bt here's the thing: Mike McCarthy is now the new sheriff in town. Whatever insight Garrett had with his former organization ended the day he was given his pink slip. And if this franchise really needs Garrett to remind them of how dangerous Elliott and Prescott are, Giants' fans had better get used to losing records for the foreseeable future.

Maybe I'm overreacting. I have a habit of doing that. Maybe Garrett turns out to be the best offensive coordinator the Giants have had since Vince Lombardi. Could be the next job I land will pay me seven figures. Hey, you never know. But given that I've never earned more than $88,000 in my life, I wouldn't hold my breath on either scenario becoming a reality.