Giants Add Assistant Offensive Line Coach; Brian Daboll Addresses Media

James Ferentz – © USA TODAY Sports

GIANTS ASSISTANT OL COACH DEPARTS…
The New York Giants have hired James Ferentz as their new assistant offensive line coach. He replaces Chris Smith who was hired by James Madison University earlier this month. Ferentz will work under new Giants offensive like coach Carmen Bricillo, who was hired in January.

An offensive lineman by trade, the 34-year old Ferentz recently retired from the NFL. He spent time with the Houston Texans (2014-2015), Denver Broncos (2015-2017), and New England Patriots (2017-2023). In New England, Bricillo was his coach in 2020-2021. His father is Iowa Hawkeyes Head Coach Kirk Ferentz.

For a complete listing of the team’s coaching staff, see the New York Giants Coaching Staff section of the website.

BRIAN DABOLL ADDRESSES THE MEDIA…
Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll spoke to the media on Tuesday at the NFL Owners Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Some of the topics discussed included:

On possibly calling the offensive plays in 2024: “It’s something I’m looking into. I think there’s 20 head coaches at this point in time that call plays in the league (either offensively or defensively)… There might be a little bit more. I’ve been doing a bunch of research, but no decision has been made. I’m still going through that process, thinking about what we need to do… I did it for a long time. There’s a lot of things that go into it. Part of the evaluation that I talked about, there are some other things that I’m looking into. I take my time and do what I think is best for the team… Whatever I feel is best for the football team, that’s the way we go.”

On Mike Kakfa being promoted to assistant head coach: “I thought he earned that role. I want to have him have opportunities to see some of the other things, particularly with some of the head coaching interviews he’s done. You don’t always get an opportunity to do that, to sit in a medical meeting or to sit in a schedule meeting with the strength staff of how we want to handle OTAs or the reason why or to sit down and listen to the different things that maybe you don’t listen to as a position coach or even a coordinator to get that sense of how things go. There’s so much time spent when you are a coordinator or a position coach on just this is my position, this is my responsibility, this is the play calling. Some of the bigger things, there’s a lot of other things that go along with it. Any of those meetings that I’ve had here in the last, call it, month that are more just myself, (General Manager) Joe (Schoen), maybe some of the other parts of the staff that aren’t necessarily strictly football, I wanted Mike to have the opportunity to see how that goes so he can ask questions and take notes on things, and maybe that helps him in the future, too.

“I hope it helps him to see some things from a different angle. Not everybody gets that opportunity, but I thought that was important. He’s been through a few of these interviews. We were having a meeting the other day, and he’s deep into the draft preparation work, as am I. Just getting started here. A couple of strength coaches and medical people, and we had met a few days earlier for about three hours. We walked out and he said, ‘It was a long one here.’ (I said,) ‘Yeah, we’re going to have another one in a couple of days.’ He’s digging through some players. I said, ‘Hey, you want to get meeting with these guys?’ He is like, ‘Yeah, I got a ton of evaluation.’ I said, ‘Let’s go, man.’ It’s a different perspective of things, of course.”

On Shea Tierney being promoted to offensive passing game coordinator and Jerome Henderson being promoted to defensive passing game coordinator: “Shea has done a great job since he’s been here and since he’s been with me (beginning in Buffalo). He has a really firm understanding of what we’re trying to do. I interviewed Rome for the coordinator job and was close, too. Great appreciation for Rome. I would say that he’s really done a good job with (new Defensive Coordinator) Shane (Bowen) there on the back end. He’s done a fabulous job the last couple of years, Rome, relative to the secondary and the coverages and things like that. I thought he’s earned that role and earned that title.”

On the new coaches who have joined the staff: “I’m excited about the guys that we’ve added, the people that we’ve added. They’ve done a great job the last two months. I’m really happy with Shane (Bowen) and Ghob (Special Teams Coordinator Michael Ghobrial) and Kafka. They’ve done a great job over the last few months of really diving into some things we need to try to correct.”

On new Defensive Coordinator Shane Bowen: “We’re excited to have Shane. Shane has done a great job since he’s been here… He’s done a great job in the running game the last few years with Tennessee, in the red zone and third down. I think he has a great way about him. He’s an excellent teammate. He’s good with X’s and O’s in the interview. He was good with fundamentals, and I thought he was a very good communicator and teacher of the things that he really believes in. He’s done a good job with Rome (Defensive Passing Game Coordinator/Defensive Backs Coach Jerome Henderson) and Dre (Defensive Line Coach Andrew Patterson), and those guys have added their pieces to it. (Assistant Defensive Line Coach) BCox (Bryan Cox), (Defensive Assistant) Ben (Burress), and (Safeties Coach Michael) Treier and all the guys that were here. I’ve been pleased with how they’ve kind of worked together here these last couple of months. Very happy with the first two months with Shane.”