New York Giants To Hire Harbaugh or Stefanski?

Boy was it ugly, but at least its over. Will the New York Giants hire Stefanski or Harbaugh, plus how did Aaron Glenn’s first season go for the Jets?

Prepare for the intense sports debate that only sibling rivalry can conjure. Seesaw Sports, where Dan Salem and Todd Salem throw down on the NFL, MLB, NBA and more. Only on BuzzChomp. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate sports.

Now the fun begins, because this past season was anything but. The New York Giants need a new head coach, so it is Stefanski or Harbaugh? The New York Jets floundered under their first year head coach, so where do we stand on Aaron Glenn? This is our New York football hour for the end of the NFL season and both teams are looking for a clean slate, no matter how hard it is to scrub clean.

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We are faced with the truth that none of us want to accept. The only way through is through, so let’s feel everything and bite the proverbial bullets. Literally everyone is asking, outsiders are laughing or averting their eyes, but someone must step up to the podium and fire back. Tough questions require hard answers.

 

New York Giants and Jets: Coaching Questions

 

 

1. Who will be the New York Giants next head coach?

Todd Salem: With the regular season wrapped, Mike Kafka’s time as interim head coach has come to an end. It is entirely possible that the team liked what it saw from the second half of the season and decides to retain Kafka as full-time head coach. Color me dubious that that will happen though.

The team was fine in the second half of the year; we didn’t expect them to do much, and they didn’t. Both coordinators were replaced, which makes scheme development hard. Jaxson Dart was in and out of the lineup as well. I don’t blame Kafka for failing to make strides; the deck was stacked against his progress toward…anything.

Instead, New York is on the coach hunt, along with a number of other franchises. Many of the best coaching candidates this offseason are defensive minds. There are a few retreads; some young up-and-comers. Each coaching cycle produces the same archetypes of coaching hires. Normally, I would ask what archetype the Giants should be after. Instead, I’m just going to name a name. The Giants should hire Kevin Stefanski. Stefanski checks all my archetype boxes.

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1) He’s an offensive mind. For a team with a young, franchise QB, I want an offensive mind leading the club. Even though his defensive coordinator hire will become paramount, Dart’s success or failure is what will carry the future of the club.

2) He’s had great success. Not many guys are two-time winners of Coach of the Year.

3) He’s a second-chance coach. Hiring a first-time coach is risky. Hiring a retread who only knows one way to do things is risky too. The sweet spot is a guy in his second run at the job. They learned what works and what doesn’t the first time around and know where they lack and what to build off of.

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4) He failed, but it probably wasn’t his fault. The obvious shortfall of a coach in his second home is that the first one didn’t work out. If that’s because of some large issue with him personally, that ain’t good! However, it seems obvious that Stefanski was not the issue in Cleveland and never was. It reminds me eerily of Mike Vrabel, my favorite coaching hire from last cycle, and boy did that work out well for New England.

Dan Salem: On Monday I would have agreed with you about Stefanski, but now that it’s Wednesday and John Harbaugh is available, I’m not so sure. Both Harbaugh and Stefanski are perfect candidates for the Giants coaching job. Harbaugh checks all the same boxes, but has had even greater success. He got fired because it felt like he’d overstayed his welcome, which technically is his fault. So where do the Giants turn?

Even though Harbaugh is the flashier name, I believe Stefanski is the stronger hire. New York needs someone hungry, or at least as hungry as Jaxson Dart, which is a high bar to meet. I’m a bit wary of Harbaugh after how things ended in Baltimore. Somehow the Ravens defense cratered and sunk the ship, which is the absolute last thing the Giants need. New York needs defense, even if they have an offensive minded head coach.

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I know you want an offensive head coach, I know the league is offensive minded, and I know Dart is the cornerstone of the Giants, but New York has failed to improve its defense for at least five years in a row. On paper they have more star power on defense, but it never materializes on the field. Perhaps a defensive minded head coach would finally change things for the Giants on defense, because I have no doubt that the Giants offense will be just fine with Dart under center.

 

 

 

2. Did We See Enough From Aaron Glenn This Season?

Todd Salem: In Glenn’s first season as head coach, a lot went wrong for the New York Jets. In fact, most everything went wrong. The offense faltered and failed. Justin Fields never materialized as a viable quarterback option. The Jets struggled to keep up with opponents.

On the positive end, the offensive line was solid. They may have a couple building-block pieces for years to come, even if none of the current linemen are All-Pro caliber. The running game was also good at times, aided by Fields’ ability to do nothing beyond run. Breece Hall leaving in the offseason brings into question how much the running attack will even resemble what we saw in 2025 though.

Defensively, which was supposed to be Glenn’s area of expertise, the Jets were atrocious. They ended up trading away their two best players, the defense took a positive jump for a couple weeks, and then cratered to even lower depths than before. NY fired its defensive coordinator, and other than some outside pass rush, there is nothing to build off of here.

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The team does have assets, though; lots of assets. Because they pulled the plug on the previous core, the Jets were able to build a trove of future draft capital to build the next roster. Will Glenn be around to see that through though?

It would be a mighty shock if Glenn was fired after one season. I don’t see that happening. Some teams have already fired their coach this week; don’t expect the Jets to follow suit. But did you see enough from him this season to think he’s the right guy for the job moving forward?

I expected more out of the Jets defense specifically, since that was Glenn’s side as a player and coordinator. Maybe it’s as simple as needing to get his own type of guys in-house, but I’m skeptical. Wouldn’t we have at least seen some players flourish under his leadership? I understand he was not the defensive coordinator, and the team had some historically bad turnover luck to boot. So, if we instead treat Glenn as a Dan Campbell-type who builds a vibe more than a playbook, that’s one explanation. If that is the case, Glenn’s entire career rests on finding the right coordinators in this hiring cycle. He failed to do so in 2025. On top of that, he needs to find a quarterback!

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We’ve seen good coaches get off to rocky starts. Dan Campbell himself won just three games in his first season as Detroit head coach. I’m not ready to write Glenn off entirely. But I wish there was more we could point to specifically this season that shows he might have a bright future.

Dan Salem: We did not see enough from Aaron Glenn in his first year to make a determination either way, which does not bode particularly well for him over the next two weeks. With several high profile coaches being fired and now looking for work, is the Jets job actually available? Would anyone want it?

Perhaps the only coach that New York would hire to replace Glenn is John Harbaugh, but I can’t come up with a reason why he’d want the job. None of the teams who need a coach, Giants aside, are particularly attractive opportunities. So let’s focus back on Glenn, who basically did about as well as the Jets did the year prior, with a few less wins that can easily be chalked up to significantly weaker quarterback play.

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The defense got worse, but it always felt like a square peg/round hole type of situation. For whatever reason, the unit still felt like Robert Saleh’s defense, even though it was playing Glenn and Steve Wilks’ new version. I’m willing to give Glenn a mulligan on defense, especially with Wilks being fired and so many new pieces likely to be added this offseason.

On offense I was actually pretty happy with how things went, that is until Brady Cook came in at quarterback. Considering Justin Fields did not throw the ball well, the Jets actually played a pretty good offense. When Cook took over it was his chance to show something, which he sort of did. I can see him being a backup in the league, but he showed us that he is not ready to be a team’s starter. Since New York was not interested in winning at that point in the year, Cook was the perfect QB for the job.

 

 

Meet our Sports Writers:

Dan Salem is Lead Editor and Co-owner of BuzzChomp. He’s an award winning Actor, Director and Producer. Visit M Square Productions for his film work, or get lost in his old-school comedy on Pillow Talk TV. You can follow him on X, TikTok and Instagram. His latest film ‘Alone’ is now on Amazon.

Todd Salem is a Staff Writer and Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also a champion of fantasy football and fantasy baseball, dominating leagues for over two decades. Comment below on his unfiltered opinions.

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