Why Giants Should Hire This Defensive Coordinator Candidate

Sometimes, all it takes when you're looking for something special is to look within the walls of your abode.

That applies to the New York Giants, who are currently contemplating candidates for their defensive coordinator position, which was left vacant when Wink Martindale angrily resigned last month. Since then, Giants head coach Brian Daboll has met with seven candidates, two of whom, Bobby Babich of the Bills and Dennard Wilson of the Ravens, have since come off the board thanks to their taking defensive coordinator roles with the Bills and Titans, respectively.

But one of the remaining candidates currently resides in-house and is a very well-respected assistant coach who, like Wilson, once played in the NFL as a defensive back and who, like Wilson (believed to have been the favorite before he accepted the Titans job offer), has never called plays at the NFL level. 

That would be 54-year-old Jerome Henderson, an NFL assistant coach since 2007 when he broke into the business with the New York Jets. Henderson, along with since fired special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, were holdovers from Joe Judge's original coaching staff hired in 2020, and unlike McGaughey, Henderson remains on solid footing.

Henderson, who has worked wonders with the Giants defensive backs--see Xavier McKinney, Jason Pinnock, Dane Belton, Deonte Banks, and Tre Hawkins for examples--makes the most logical sense to succeed Martindale because not only is he well versed in the defensive personnel, he could also continue the core philosophies of the existing scheme that the players raved bout, adding his personal touches here and there to tighten up some of the issues that plagued the scheme.

Because Henderson is already familiar with the personnel, the Giants won't have to necessarily worry about needing to play catch up with the scouting combine on deck. Henderson would no doubt be familiar with what the Giants need on defense and could make recommendations to Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen to help steer the defense to the next level.

The potential hiring of Henderson should not be viewed as the Giants "settling for scraps," as some have opined on X (formerly known as Twitter). Henderson is a solid, hard-working coach whose contributions might be flying under the radar amongst the fan base but who is very much an MVP within the walls of 1925 Giants Drive, which is why he deserves a chance to prove his mettle in an increased role.