While many New York Giants fans were sleeping, word broke early Thursday morning that the club was finalizing a deal to make John Harbaugh its next head coach.
Previous reports indicated that offensive coordinator Todd Monken would follow Harbaugh from the Baltimore Ravens to the coach’s next team. It appears that will be the case.
John Harbaugh already has a staff in mind for Giants
Per NFL reporter Dianna Russini of The Athletic, a source revealed that Monken “is expected to join John Harbaugh in New York with the Giants.” According to Russini, “this has always been the plan.”
Giants insider Dan Duggan of The Athletic noted that the Giants “will still need to go through the interview process since the Rooney Rule applies to coordinators.” Nonetheless, it seems as if the Monken-Giants marriage is a done deal.
Monken first joined the Ravens in early 2023, and quarterback Lamar Jackson ultimately earned the second regular-season Most Valuable Player Award of his career in his first campaign playing under Monken.
According to StatMuse, Jackson and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals finished the 2024 regular season with a league-best 45 combined passing and rushing touchdowns. Jackson was second in the NFL with a combined 5,087 passing and rushing yards for that season. Per Pro Football Reference, he led all qualified quarterbacks with a 119.6 passer rating.
How will Todd Monken get along with Jaxson Dart?
More recently, a report surfaced after the Ravens fired Harbaugh claiming that some Baltimore players “viewed Monken as increasingly standoffish and unwilling to collaborate with players” as the club went 8-9 this season. Some also suggested that Jackson wanted Monken out and that Harbaugh was shown the door due to his “refusal to entertain any conversations about potentially moving on from” the OC.
For what it’s worth, Monken later insisted he and Jackson “had a good relationship.” Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said that Jackson told Bisciotti he didn’t “really have a problem with Monken.”
Monken now will have to get along with and teach Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, a 2025 first-round draft pick reportedly admired by Harbaugh. The development of that relationship could determine whether or not Monken is still with the Giants 12 months from now.