AP source: Giants nearing deal with Pats’ Judge to be coach

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New England Patriots assistant Joe Judge probably is going to have to wait another day before finalizing a contract to become the somewhat surprising choice as head coach of the four-time champion New York Giants.

The team and representatives for Judge worked most of Tuesday on a deal to bring the 38-year-old to the Meadowlands in New Jersey to revive a franchise that tumbled to the bottom of the NFL in recent years, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the deal is not done. The person did not expect the contract to be finalized until Wednesday at the earliest.

Mentored by Bill Belichick and Nick Saban in a 15-year career, Judge would become a head coach for the first time. He would be one of the youngest NFL coaches, but still five years older than Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams, who at 33 is the league’s youngest.

Judge has won three Super Bowls with New England in eight years as an assistant on Belichick’s staff. He was the fifth candidate the Giants interviewed since firing Pat Shurmur on Dec. 30, but he was not considered among the front-runners until having an impressive interview on Monday.

The early leading candidates were Baylor coach Matt Rhule and former Packers coach Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy was interviewed on Friday, but he agreed Monday to become the Dallas Cowboys’ new coach. Rhule, who was supposed to interview with New York on Tuesday, signed a seven-year, $62 million contract with the Carolina Panthers on Tuesday, a person familiar with that deal told AP.

The third new coach tabbed for the NFC East in a week — Ron Rivera was hired by the Washington Redskins on Wednesday — Judge would take over a team that went 4-12 and 5-11 in Shurmur’s two seasons and has been to the playoffs just once since winning the Super Bowl after the 2011 season. He would be the Giants’ fourth head coach since Tom Coughlin was let go after the 2015 season. Ben McAdoo, hired in 2016, didn’t last two seasons. Steve Spagnuolo, currently Kansas City’s defensive co-ordinator, served as interim coach after McAdoo was fired in ’17.

Judge, the Patriots’ special teams co-ordinator and wide receivers coach, would inherit a team with a talented young quarterback in Daniel Jones and former rookie of the year running back Saquon Barkley. The Giants have the fourth pick in this year’s draft and approximately $85 million in salary-cap money to spend.

The Patriots lost to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night in the wild-card round.

Judge joined the Patriots as a special teams assistant in 2012 and helped guide them to Super Bowls titles in the 2014, ’16 and ’18 seasons.

Before joining New England, he spent three years in the same role under Saban at Alabama. He won titles with the Crimson Tide in 2009 and ’11. He also coached at Mississippi State and Birmingham-Southern.

With Judge as special teams co-ordinator since 2015, New England consistently ranked as one of the NFL’s top units. He added receivers to his responsibilities in 2019. He coached kicker Stephen Gostkowski to the All-Pro team in 2015 and special teams captain Matt Slater to the same honours in 2016 and this season.

Belichick called Judge “an excellent coach” and said he excelled in his added duties this season.

“Joe’s done a great job. He’s done a great job with the kicking game,” Belichick said. “He’s expanded the role a little bit and that’s kind of had a little bit of a ripple effect in the way we’ve organized the kicking game, but that’s all worked out pretty efficiently. Joe’s done a good job of organizing that, as well as taking care on some other things with the offence and particularly receivers.”

Judge met with Giants co-owner John Mara, general manager Dave Gettleman and vice-president of football operations Kevin Abrams at the team’s New Jersey headquarters on Monday.

The Giants had been expected to interview Patriots offensive co-ordinator Josh McDaniels this week along with Baylor’s Rhule. But Rhule did not interview with them, the person familiar with the coaching situation said.

New York also had been given permission by Dallas to speak with former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett about the head coaching job. An interview was planned later this week, the person said.

Garrett’s contract with the Cowboys does not expire until next week.

There have been reports the Giants are considering Garrett for a job as a co-ordinator or quarterbacks coach, but the person said the new coach will determine his staff.

Others interviewed were Kris Richard, the Dallas defensive assistant coach and former Seattle defensive co-ordinator; Chiefs offensive co-ordinator Eric Bieniemy; and Ravens defensive co-ordinator Don Martindale.

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AP Sports Writers Schuyler Dixon in Frisco, Texas; Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Kyle Hightower in Foxborough, Massachusetts, contributed to this report.

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Tom Canavan, The Associated Press