The New York Giants are expected to hire former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to be their offensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Judge.
Here are nine quick things you should know:
He’s a two-time Super Bowl champion
It’s always good to have a few rings on the coaching staff and Garrett, although he was a backup, earned two with the great Cowboys teams of the 1990s.
Playing behind Troy Aikman, Garrett — coming from a coaching background — got an education from Hall of Fame coaches such as Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer. He also played under the highly-regarded Chan Gailey.
The Giants have always liked him
Garrett, after playing seven seasons in Dallas as Troy Aikman’s backup, came the Giants in 2000 and served as their backup for three seasons.
When asked about hiring him as an assistant, Giants CEO John Mara was all for it:
“I certainly wouldn’t have any objection to that. I have a lot of respect for Jason,” Mara said recently.
Coaching is in his blood
Garrett’s father, Jim, was born in Passaic and played his high school ball at Rutherford. He was a defensive assistant for the Giants from 1970-73 under Alex Webster, moving on to jobs with the New Orleans Saints (1976–1977), and the Cleveland Browns (1978–1984).
In 1974, the senior Garrett was head coach of the Houston Texans of the ill-fated World Football League (1974). His final job was head coach at Columbia where he retired in 1985.
He’s a local guy
According to his bio, Garrett was born in Pennsylvania but spent his early years in New Jersey. He would go on to follow his dad, Jim, at Columbia but transferred to Princeton when Jim retired in 1985.
As a quarterback at Princeton, Garrett set several passing records and was named the Ivy League Player of the Year in 1988.
He knows his stuff
So what — he never won anything is Dallas as a head coach. Garrett is still knows offense and the Giants, with all their young talent need a mind to point them in the right direction.
As the Cowboys’ head coach, “the Cowboys offense was usually pretty good during his tenure. They had the NFL’s top-ranked offense this past season, averaging 431.5 yard per game. It was the fifth time in his tenure Dallas ranked in the Top 7 in total offense. And they ranked in the Top 3 twice in his three years as the Cowboys offensive coordinator before that.”
Garrett also worked under Nick Saban with the Miami Dolphins in 2005-2006.
He knows the division
Garrett coached the Cowboys for nine and a half seasons and was an assistant with Dallas for four and a half years prior to that. It’s safe to say no one in the game knows the NFC East landscape better. He was 85-67 as a head coach and is second in wins behind Tom Landry in Cowboys history. He is 38-20 against the NFC East.
He has had success
Garrett has been recognized as a top coach as both an assistant and a head coach. He was voted the PFWA Assistant Coach of the Year in 2007 and in 2016, Garrett was voted the NFL’s Coach of the Year leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record and the second of what would be three NFC East titles.
He knows quarterbacking
Having played behind Hall of Famer Troy Aikman for seven seasons and then coached the likes of Tony Romo and Dak Prescott, Garrett is well versed in the position and will be a huge influence on Daniel Jones.
Since Garrett’s arrival in 2007, the Cowboys’ cumulative numbers for gross passing yards, total points were the best totals over a 10-year span in the history of the organization. Prescott, a fourth-round draft pick, has been to the Pro Bowl twice in his four seasons under Garrett, while the undrafted Tony Romo was a four-time Pro Bowler (three times under Garrett).
Numbers don’t lie
Garrett is the first ex-Cowboys player to ever become their head coach, but fans were fed up with the team’s inability to advance in the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean he was a failure. He made the best of it while was there.
Since 2014, the Cowboys were first in both yards per rush (4.64) and rush yards per game (135.6), third in rushing touchdowns (90), fourth in completion percentage (66.3%) and ninth in passing yards per attempt (7.58).
