The news that Ben McAdoo is back in the NFL after a two-year, well-paid hiatus should resonate in and around the Giants’ facility. McAdoo’s hiring as the Jaguars’ quarterbacks coach should serve as a reminder to Giants co-owner John Mara and those in his charge that they need to do much better for novice head coach Joe Judge than they did for Ben McAdoo in his first NFL head coaching job.
Imagine Judge going 11-5 and making the playoffs in his first season? What a remarkable achievement that would be. Then imagine if that success were forgotten and Judge were fired 12 games into 2021. Preposterous, you say? Well, it happened to McAdoo in 2016 and 2017 and that dismissal is one of the most glaring reminders of inherent dysfunction during a truly low point for the franchise.
Mara knows he messed up with McAdoo and he feels bad about the way it ended. That will greatly benefit Judge, who will get to work for a more in-touch co-owner than McAdoo did. If Judge, hired by the Giants at 38 years old with no head-coaching experience, ever crosses paths with McAdoo — likewise hired by the Giants at 38 years old with no head-coaching experience — he should buy him a beer or two and thank him for inadvertently creating a more nurturing work environment.
Mara somewhat acknowledged his failings when he said, “It’s up to us to show a little more patience with this coach than perhaps we have over the last few years, because he is a first-time head coach.’’
This reflection was much more about McAdoo than it was about Pat Shurmur, who held the post between McAdoo and Judge. The Giants did not need one more game to determine the seasoned and experienced Shurmur was not cut out for the job.
McAdoo, after two years working as the offensive coordinator, replaced Tom Coughlin to become at the time the NFL’s second-youngest head coach. He rode a one-year resurgence from a largely mercenary defense to the playoffs in his first season, but inexorable decline on the offensive line, age showing on Eli Manning, bad chemistry in the secondary and not enough guidance from those who should have known better conspired to hasten McAdoo’s ouster.
As offensive coordinator in 2015, McAdoo helped Manning achieve his best statistical season, with career highs in completions, touchdowns and passer rating. But two years later, at a time when Manning needed more and more, the franchise gave him less and less. McAdoo was the fall guy for the “benching’’ — Manning could have extended his starting streak of 210 games but chose not to — and McAdoo’s greatest miscalculation was misjudging how unpopular former Jet Geno Smith, who started that Week 13 game at the Raiders, was in New York.
Still, McAdoo was far more plugged into the quarterback world than anyone around him with the Giants. He adored raw Texas Tech prospect Patrick Mahomes and desperately wanted the Giants to consider him in the 2017 NFL Draft. The decision-makers (you might want to avert your eyes before continuing) preferred unheralded Davis Webb and (Lord help us) DeShone Kizer and took Webb in the third round.
It is not commonly known that for Coughlin’s successor, longtime general manager Jerry Reese wanted to hire Mike Smith, who had gotten the Falcons to within one game of the Super Bowl in the 2012 season, but Mara opted for the continuity McAdoo brought to Manning and the offense.
The day McAdoo was fired, Reese said, “He’s smarter than all of us in this room, I can tell you that.’’ Reese, however, was too-often Sphinx-like when McAdoo needed public help. The Josh Brown domestic abuse situation is front and center here, as McAdoo was left twisting in the wind, as the front office and ownership remained silent, until the bitter end.
In Jacksonville, the 42-year-old McAdoo will work for head coach Doug Marrone and offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and inherits a sticky situation, with Nick Foles and Gardner Minshew II set to battle for the starting quarterback job.
“Coach McAdoo brings a lot of experience and knowledge to the quarterback room, and we’re excited to add him to our offensive coaching staff,” Marrone said. “His understanding of the position will be a valuable addition to our team and for the development of that group.”
Mara prefers to support his head coach, but not get in his way. He engaged in very few meaningful one-on-one conversations with McAdoo during his scant 29-game (including the playoffs) stay as the man in charge of the football coaching operation.
Judge will get more from Mara than Mara gave to McAdoo. Advantage, Judge.