John Harbaugh wound up playing it safe at offensive coordinator for the New York Giants.
That does not mean the hiring of Matt Nagy is a bad thing for quarterback Jaxson Dart.
And ultimately, while the OC has the entire unit under his purview, the presence of Dart will continue to take on the utmost importance of where the Giants go offensively and what it’ll all look like.
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“I think Matt Nagy, I do think the way he runs an offense, it’s going to fit Jaxson Dart,” NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms told NorthJersey.com and The Record on Tuesday morning. “Jaxson Dart has that playmaking, backyard football ability and I think Matt Nagy is going to enhance that because he’ll understand the player he has.
“He’s going to give the Giants some structure and some rules, and some offensive plays here,” Simms said. “But he’s not going to wipe away his natural God-given ability and his feel for the game, that’s what I like.”
Nagy, 47, has been a part of an offense established and run in Kansas City by NFL coaching legend and multi-time Super Bowl winner Andy Reid that has featured Patrick Mahomes.
While he did not call plays and has not since his days as head coach of the Chicago Bears, Nagy has played an integral role within the Kansas City offense.
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“Somebody’s getting a gem,” Reid said of Nagy, referring to his chances of being a head coach this cycle.
This was the most impactful move Harbaugh had to make when putting together his coaching staff after Todd Monken – his OC with the Ravens – moved on to Cleveland, where he accepted the head coaching job.
Establishing the right structure both schematically and from a personnel perspective is paramount to the Giants’ success under Harbaugh, especially in the first year. And if he can take a page from what Mike Vrabel did in New England, as he brought Josh McDaniels back as OC for Maye, finding the proper mix of experience, innovation and rapport could be the difference in Dart taking his game to another level.
During his 18-year tenure in Baltimore, Harbaugh hired five offensive coordinators that arrived with NFL head coaching experience: Cam Cameron, Jim Caldwell, Gary Kubiak, Marc Trestman and Marty Mornhinweg. He also hired Todd Monken, who had been a college head coach at Southern Mississippi.
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Nagy was a college quarterback at Delaware. He is a proponent of the West Coast offense and likes his quarterbacks to navigate the pocket with the skill to make plays downfield with his arm in addition to keeping defenses on their heels with his legs. That speaks to Dart’s talent.
Other than Mahomes, Nagy’s stint as head coach with the Bears was with a group of quarterbacks that don’t come anywhere close to the best of his generation: Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel, Nick Foles and Justin Fields.
What’s the Giants’ next move on offense?
Now that Harbaugh has his OC, the Giants will continue to build out his offensive staff. He interviewed the Chargers’ Shane Day and the Colts’ Alex Tanney for OC; one of those could be a strong fit at QB coach and passing game coordinator. Could another Harbaugh lieutenant in former OC Greg Roman – most recently fired by Jim Harbaugh – come to Giants as run game coordinator?
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Former Wake Forest and Fordham coach Dave Clawson has a close relationship through the years with Harbaugh and he has been mentioned as a possible senior offensive assistant.
Dart is nowhere near his ceiling as a player, which is why the Giants have no problem talking about the priority of helping the 22-year-old take his game to the next level and beyond.
Seemingly every significant play Dart made as a rookie this past season came from matching his mind to his physical tools. He has impressed with his instincts, an awareness of what is going to happen on the other side of the ball and the moments that call for the throws he knows he can make.
Dart has a knack for making the difficult look routine. He promised in the summer he would not be a robot, and he held firm to that during the season while also staying away from negative plays, striking a balance that has an entire organization excited about the potential of what’s to come.
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“You build your team around your quarterback. You build your team around your players and what they do well,” Harbaugh said. “I like the way [Dart] plays. I like his talent, skill set, all the things he’s accomplished, but more than that, I like who he is and what he’s about.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: What it means for Jaxson Dart to have Matt Nagy hired as NY Giants offensive coordinator
