The Giants are hiring Joe Judge to be their next head coach, SNY's Ralph Vacchiano confirmed.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Matt Rhule called the Giants before agreeing to take the Panthers head coaching job and gave them the opportunity to match that deal. The Giants instead decided to hire Judge. Rhule, who had been viewed as the favorite for the Giants job, is receiving a seven-year deal worth $60 million from the Panthers, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The 38-year-old Judge, who interviewed with the Giants on Monday, had been serving as the Patriots' special teams coordinator/wide receivers coach.
According to Schefter, the deal between the Giants and Judge was in the works as of Monday night, with Schefter adding that the situation with Judge and the Giants was one of the reasons Rhule pounced on the Panthers job.
Along with the Giants job, Judge was also connected to the open head coaching position at Mississippi State, which could be another reason why the Giants moved quickly to lock him up.
Judge began his coaching career in 2005 with Mississippi State and joined the Patriots in 2012, where he had earned rave reviews from head coach Bill Belichick.
"Joe has done a great job of ... taking on some other things with the offense, in particular receivers, so he's done a great job," Belichick recently told NJ.com's Matt Lombardo. "He's an excellent coach."
Patriots WR Julian Edelman was also a big fan of Judge, calling him "very passionate."
With Judge taking over for the fired Pat Shurmur, the next steps for the Giants will include rounding out his coaching staff. And that could include Jason Garrett as the offensive coordinator, according to Vacchiano.