Philadelphia Eagles Rival Report: Ron Rivera ignoring Giants speaks volumes
Philadelphia Eagles fans and NFL fans all over raised an eyebrow when it was learned that Ron Rivera wouldn’t be taking the New York Giants head coaching position.
Though it was an interesting topic of conversation for about a day or so, everyone knew, following the Carolina Panthers‘ firing of Ron Rivera, that any idea of him returning home to the Eagles and taking their defensive coordinator position was ridiculous.
That isn’t how things happen in the NFL. The Eagles were never going to fire Jim Schwartz to make room for Rivera, but here’s something that everyone can acknowledge. Rivera’s apparent lack of interest in the vacant New York Giants head coaching position speaks volumes.
His was a name that was linked to quite a few vacancies, including, for one reason or another, every one of the Eagles’ rivals in the NFC East. Here we are, and per Ian Rapoport, the Washington Redskins, at the time of this writing, are in the final stages of signing Rivera to a five-year deal.
It also seems as though he’ll be joined by Jack Del Rio, who’ll serve as his defensive coordinator. If that is indeed the case, that’s a very damning statement about the Giants organization.
All we’ve heard about the Redskins for a decade now has been they have a maniacal owner, Daniel Snyder, they are poorly run, and they are typically field a team that no great head coach wants to lead. Most would agree with that, so with that being said, if that’s a common theory and Rivera chose to sign on anyway, what does that say about the Giants organization?
New York has a great history, seemingly competent ownership, and budding young stars in Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. Then, on top of that, Rivera already had a working relationship with David Gettleman. That made a reunion between the two seem possible, but dare we say that, maybe, it was Gettleman that turned Rivera off?
Gettleman and Rivera helped lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance in 2016. That followed 2015’s regular season, but since then, he’s been criticized for everything from his decision making to his personality.
Guys like Landon Collins and Odell Beckham Jr. were very critical in sharing their opinions on their former general manager. Those comments were dismissed quickly, but dare we say, as time has passed, that maybe both Beckham and Collins had a point? It’s a fair question, right? We’ll see what happens. It’s been reported that Mike McCarthy will meet with the Giants’ leadership in the coming days. We’ll see if that leads to him being hired.