As the coaching carousel began to spin, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz emerged as an early favorite for the job. But then the Giants didn’t promptly request permission during the bye week to interview Schwartz. Then, after PFT pointed out that the Giants hadn’t requested permission to interview Schwartz, they did.
Then, the Giants didn’t interview Schwartz during the bye week. Then, a report surfaced of three finalists for the job, and the list didn’t include Schwartz. Then, when two of the three finalists (Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia) became linked to other jobs, Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur became the default first choice.
Setting aside (for now) the practical consequences of allowing the narrative to unwind in a way that makes Shurmur look like the third choice, what happened to the candidacy of the man who initially was seen as the first choice?
No one seems to know the truth. At a minimum, an interview of Schwartz would make sense, given that it would have provided an opportunity to pick his brain about Philly’s personnel and schemes. And hiring Schwartz would clearly hurt a division rival, which then would need a new leader of its defense.
If Schwartz and the Eagles beat the Vikings on Sunday in the NFC Championship, Shurmur presumably will get the job. But if Shurmur and the Vikings win, Shurmur can’t be hired for at least two more weeks. Would that then create an opening for Schwartz?
It’s not clear which of the two would be the better candidate for the Giants job. Shurmur coached the Browns for two years, leading them to a 9-23 record. Schwartz made it five years with the Lions, with a 29-51 regular-season record. Taking away the 2-14 season that came in his first year (one season after Detroit was 0-16), Schwartz was 27-37.
Regardless, the Giants seem to have no interest in a guy who should be at least as interesting to them as Shurmur is. The fact that they had enough interest to request permission to interview Schwartz but then to not follow through with it serves only to heighten the sense of mystery that hovers over his connection to the job.