It appears Tom Coughlin wants to speak with several candidates before filling the Giants’ vacant defensive coordinator job.
First up Thursday was Perry Fewell, most recently the Bills interim head coach and the defensive coordinator in Buffalo for four years. Coming next week could be Romeo Crennel, a former Giants assistant under Bill Parcells, former Patriots assistant under Bill Belichick, and former Browns head coach. The Giants are interested in meeting with Crennel, who returns Monday from vacation. The Chiefs are also interested in having Crennel run their defense.
Crennel has primarily been a 3-4 defensive front coach (the Giants run a 4-3) and is low key in the mold of Bill Sheridan, who was fired Monday.
Fewell is considered the front-runner to become the Bears’ defensive coordinator and he’s scheduled to interview next week in Chicago, where he’d be reunited with Lovie Smith. Fewell coached defensive backs for the Rams under Smith, who ran the St. Louis defense. Fewell in 2005 went with Smith to Chicago and the following year was hired as Buffalo’s defensive coordinator under Dick Jauron.
Jauron – Coughlin’s first defensive coordinator in Jacksonville in 1995 – is also a candidate for the Giants job.
Former Giants linebacker Pepper Johnson definitely is interested in returning to run the defense after working under Belichick for 10 years with the Patriots, the past six as defensive line coach.
The Giants have expressed some interest in Johnson and his hiring would surely energize many former Giants players. He’s considered a long-shot and cannot be interviewed until after the Patriots are eliminated from the playoffs.
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Marc Ross, the Giants director of college scouting, will interview next week in Seattle for the Seahawks general manager position. Ross the past two years has run the NFL Draft for the Giants and he would be a significant loss to the organization. … Reports out of Buffalo indicate if Leslie Frazier is hired as the Bills head coach his first choice to bring in as offensive coordinator is Chris Palmer, the Giants quarterbacks coach. … Sheridan is expected to interview for the Dolphins linebackers coach job.