The Giants have found their new defensive coordinator for their first season with John Harbaugh as head coach.
According to multiple reports, New York has hired Dennard Wilson for the role.
Wilson, 43, served as the Titans’ defensive coordinator for the last two seasons. But before that, he worked under Harbaugh as Baltimore’s defensive backs coach in 2023.
Wilson has also previously worked with the Rams from 2012-2016, the Jets from 2017-2018, and the Eagles from 2021-2022.
The Giants have now hired multiple coordinators, as it was reported earlier on Sunday that the club had brought in Chris Horton as special teams coordinator.
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John Harbaugh has landed his special teams coordinator.
According to multiple reports, the Giants will hire Chris Horton for that role on Harbaugh’s staff. Horton was on the Ravens’ staff since 2014 and moved to the top special teams job in 2019.
The Ravens initially blocked the Giants’ effort to interview Horton, but the hiring of Jesse Minter as their new head coach led to a shift in that stance.
Horton is not expected to be the only member of the Baltimore staff to follow Harbaugh to the Giants. More word on just how many assistants make the move should surface in the coming days.
Reports have indicated that the Giants would like to have Todd Monken join John Harbaugh’s staff as their offensive coordinator, but he is still in the running for the Browns’ head coaching job and the team is meeting with other candidates.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Giants interviewed Robert Prince for the job on Friday. Prince spent the 2025 season as the Dolphins’ wide receivers coach.
Prince has also coached wide receivers for the Cowboys, Texans, Lions, and Seahawks. He’s never been a coordinator at the NFL level, but did have that role at Boise State.
There was word this week that Harbaugh will retain two members of last year’s Giants staff. Monken is one of several of his Ravens assistants that are expected to be in mix for jobs with Harbaugh’s new club.
The Steelers rarely hire head coaches. In the moves made since Richard Nixon was in the White House, the Steelers consistently have gotten ahead of the curve, spotting a future Hall of Famer before he became a household name.
Most expected that again. A first-time head coach not yet known to the fan base but, thanks to the Rooney imprimatur, destined for greatness.
Instead, Steeler Nation got a Pittsburgh native with 18 years of NFL head-coaching experience, and more firings than Super Bowl appearances. And while it’s possible that Mike McCarthy, who has an 11-11 record in the postseason, will deliver the franchise’s first playoff win since 2016, they’re far more interested in their first Super Bowl win since 2008.
Some of the dismay comes from the decision to pounce on McCarthy before conducting in-person interviews with Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase or Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula. Some of it comes from the fact that no one else was seemingly hot on McCarthy’s trail in the current coaching carousel, with McCarthy interviewed by only two teams — the Titans and Giants.
None of the other teams looking for new head coaches (Ravens, Browns, Cardinals, Raiders, Bills, Falcons, Dolphins) were linked to McCarthy. And if any of those teams reached out to McCarthy and he passed because he was waiting for a better opportunity with a more stable organization, there were no reports to that effect.
Go back to January 2025. When McCarthy left the Cowboys, the Jets, Patriots, Jaguars, Raiders, Bears, and Saints were conducting coaching searches. Only the Bears interviewed him.
The NFL, with only 32 teams, is a fairly small, tight-knit operation. Word gets around about the best coaching candidates. The league-wide buzz around McCarthy doesn’t mesh with his objective accomplishments. That’s a red flag for the folks who wave yellow towels.
Much has been made about McCarthy’s track record in comparison to John Harbaugh’s. Both have been to one Super Bowl. Both have won one Super Bowl. Postseason included, McCarthy has coached 310 games, winning 60 percent of them. Harbaugh has coached 317 games. He has won 60.9 percent.
But when Harbaugh became available, an instant land rush emerged for his services. His agent heard from more teams than there were vacancies. The Giants landed the biggest fish in the current cycle, with Harbaugh utilizing rare leverage to squeeze the Giants into reshaping their football operation.
For McCarthy, the vibe has been much different. After he was fired by the Packers during the 2018 season, there was no clamor to hire him in 2019. In the 2025 and 2026 cycles, there was one and only one offer. From the Steelers.
Steelers fans hold their team in very high regard. They believe the Steelers should be the franchise to which candidates with options flock. Despite the similarities between McCarthy’s and Harbaugh’s résumés, Harbaugh’s arrival to the Giants carried the kind of buzz that the Steelers fans would have expected, if the franchise was going to break dramatically from its 57-year history of hiring a future star whose name was not yet widely known.
Really, if they were going the former-coach route, why didn’t the Steelers make a run at Harbaugh? When Mike Tomlin resigned, Harbaugh had not yet begun negotiating a contract with the Giants. Presented with Harbaugh and McCarthy as the two options, it would have been an 80-20 issue for folks in the 412 area code.
And while wins (especially in January) will get fans to warm up to the decision, short-term losses will spark more of the naked vitriol that emerged during the embarrassing November 30 home loss to the Bills.
Consider McCarthy’s first year in Dallas. A Week 9 loss to the Steelers dropped the Cowboys’ record to 2-7. If that’s how 2026 starts for the Steelers, they’ll be chanting “Fire McCarthy” at Penguins games — and Styx will kindly ask the Steelers to cease and desist playing Renegade.
The silver lining in the black and gold cloud that many Steelers fans see brewing is that McCarthy had three straight 12-5 seasons in Dallas. The Steelers have had only two seasons of 12 or more wins since 2011, and none since 2020.
The sooner the Steelers can get that kind of performance out of McCarthy, the sooner Steelers fans will move past the perception that they settled for a coach who, despite his Harbaugh-esque successes, had nowhere else to go.
Wink Martindale is flying to New York on Saturday to interview for the Jets’ vacant defensive coordinator job, Connor Hughes of SNYtv reports.
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn made significant changes to his coaching staff after a 3-14 record in his first season.
The Jets, who finished 25th in yards allowed (355.6) and 31st in points (29.6) and forced only four takeaways, are seeking to replace Steve Wilks, whom they fired after a Week 15 loss to the Jaguars.
Martindale, 62, has seven years of NFL defensive coordinator experience with the Broncos (2010), Ravens (2018-21) and the Giants (2022-23). He spent the past two seasons in Ann Arbor as Michigan’s defensive coordinator under Sherrone Moore.
The Jets also have interviewed interim defensive coordinator Chris Harris, Broncos defensive pass game coordinator and assistant head coach Jim Leonhard, Vikings defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, Lions defensive assistant Jim O’Neil, Packers defensive line coach and run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington, Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda and Dolphins cornerbacks coach Mathieu Araujo’.
The Jets are also looking for a new quarterbacks coach, defensive line coach, linebackers coach and a passing game coordinator, among others.
The Patriot Way could be coming to Sin City.
Several weeks after a rumor made the rounds of Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores (as head coach) and former Giants head coach Brian Daboll (as offensive coordinator) taking their talents to Las Vegas, it’s possible that Daboll will be the one who gets the gig.
Via multiple reports, the Raiders have interviewed Daboll for the team’s head-coaching vacancy.
Daboll had two separate stints with the Patriots during Raiders minority owner Tom Brady’s time in New England. A defensive assistant in 2000 and 2001, Daboll became the receivers coach from 2002 through 2006. He returned as tight ends coach from 2013 to 2016. In all, Daboll won five Super Bowl rings there.
The Flores possibility fizzled. The reasons for that aren’t clear. One explanation could be related to the blunt comments recently offered by former Vikings assistant coach Mike Pettine.
Daboll recently interviewed with the Bills, too. Some regard him as a favorite there, given his past work with quarterback Josh Allen, during Daboll’s four years as offensive coordinator, from 2018 to 2021.
When John Harbaugh became head coach of the Ravens, he inherited defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. Eighteen years later, Harbaugh could be bringing Ryan in.
Via Michael McCarthy of FrontOfficeSports.com, Harbaugh didn’t dismiss the possibility of hiring Ryan to serve as the Giants’ defensive coordinator.
“Why not?” Harbaugh said in an appearance on WFAN. “Could you imagine Rex coming back in here? I’m not ruling anything out. A guy like Rex, he’s around the game, he knows the game. He’s going to have to get updated a little bit with some of the scheme stuff, but I’ll tell you, no one calls a better game than Rex Ryan.”
After one year with Harbaugh, Ryan became the head coach of the Jets, where he worked from 2009 through 2014. He then coached the Bills in 2015 and 2016. He has spent the last 10 years at ESPN.
Two years ago, Ryan emerged as a candidate for the defensive coordinator job in Dallas. He claimed that he would have gotten the job over Mike Zimmer, if owner/G.M. Jerry Jones hadn’t lowballed him.
Ryan’s defense creates chaos. And even though the game has indeed changed since he last coached, it’s still 11-on-11 football. The goal of any defense is to deploy its players in a way that short circuits the play that the offense has called. Ryan was able to do that well enough to earn two head-coaching jobs.
And while some head coaches may be intimidated by Ryan’s triple-XL personality, John Harbaugh won’t be. Harbaugh, who was never an offensive or defensive coordinator, will want to delegate those assignments to coaches he can trust to do the job well. It already worked between Harbaugh and Ryan in 2008, culminating in an appearance in the AFC Championship in their only year together.
Could it work again? As Harbaugh said, “Why not?”
John Harbaugh is having a busy offseason after he was fired by the Ravens and hired by the Giants, but he took some time out to offer his thanks to his home for the last 18 years.
Harbaugh took out a full-page ad in the Baltimore Sun to express his appreciation for the city, the fans, and the team.
Harbaugh’s full message is below:
When Ingrid, Alison and I arrived in Baltimore, we knew that we were joining a football organization. What we couldn’t have fully known then was that we were becoming part of a city, a culture, and a community that is bonded together by a shared sense of strength and unity.
From the first time I walked onto the field at The Bank, it was clear this place was different. Ravens football is different... the standard is high, the values are second to none, and the meaning of it all transcends the white lines. You see it in the way this city shows up on Sundays, in the way it supports its players, and in the way Ravens fans represent the shield everywhere they go.
Through the years, we’ve shared unforgettable moments of shared triumph and excellence, along with steadfast determination in the face of trial and adversity. We have lived it all together. Your unwavering allegiance to support your team and to make your presence felt, always made this team and franchise the best it could be.
To Steve Bisciotti: Thank you for creating an environment rooted in maintaining a standard of excellence.
To the players who worked hard, fought, believed and always played with the hearts of lions, THANK YOU. Your commitment to one another, to the standard, and to this city is what made our success happen. Coaching you has been one of the greatest privileges and joys of my life.
To our coaches, your devotion and work ethic were unrivaled. To our front office and all the support staff, your dedication was the foundation of the success.
Most of all, to the people of Baltimore: Thank you for embracing my family and for allowing us to grow alongside you. This city’s grit, resilience and authenticity are unmatched. The pride you take in your team reflects the pride you take in one another. That is something truly special.
Football can be about wins and losses, but what lasts are the relationships, the shared moments, and the bond between a team and its city. Those memories will echo forever.
With deep respect, gratitude, appreciation and love,
Thank you, Baltimore.
Thank you, Ravens Flock.
John Harbaugh
John Harbaugh got to work on building his first Giants coaching staff this week and it will reportedly only include a couple of holdovers from the previous one.
Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports that Harbaugh is expected to retain outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen and tight ends coach Tim Kelly. There was word earlier this week about several coaches who have been told they will not be asked back, but the Giants have not made any official announcements at this point.
Bullen joined the Giants’ staff in 2024 and finished out the 2025 season as the interim defensive coordinator after the team fired Shane Bowen.
Kelly was also hired in 2024. He was previously the offensive coordinator for the Titans and the Texans.
During his introductory press conference as the Giants head coach, John Harbaugh had glowing things to say about quarterback Jaxson Dart and the feeling is mutual.
Dart said that players “were all really, really excited about and wanted to have” Harbaugh when his name came up as a candidate to replace the fired Brian Daboll. He said that he expects to do “a whole lot of winning” with Harbaugh on the team’s sideline.
“He was just a coach who I feel like I just bought into the things that he was saying immediately, and just the way that he carries himself and can conduct himself in front of a room and his track record is incredible,” Dart said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com. “So immediately the winning culture, the intensity, and then just the enthusiasm and love about football, that’s what he carries and brings to the team. So, just can’t wait to get started and get rolling with him.”
The two men won’t be able to start on football work for some time, but there should be a lot of positive conversations about what’s on tap in the months before the Giants can get the Harbaugh era fully underway.
