John Harbaugh hired in a New York minute: Giants score an 'A' for moving fast in new head coach pursuit

The New York Giants made a massive move late Wednesday night, as they're now working to finalize an agreement with former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh to be their next head coach, CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones confirmed. 

Harbaugh was immediately the most sought-after name on the market once he and the Ravens parted ways, and the Giants struck quickly to work on a deal with Harbaugh before he could take reported meetings with the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons this weekend. 

From the Giants' perspective, this has to be considered an excellent hire -- an "A," if you will.

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Harbaugh was extremely successful with the Ravens, compiling a 180-113 regular-season record and making the playoffs 12 times in 18 seasons, going 13-11 in the postseason and winning a Super Bowl back in 2012. A CEO-style head coach who was a former special-teams coordinator, Harbaugh was nevertheless at the forefront of leaguewide trends like aggressive fourth-down decision-making and he showed the ability to adapt with the times and with the construction of his roster, repeatedly seeking out new ideas on both sides of the ball so that he could mold the system around his players rather than try to fit square pegs into round holes. 

He'll bring immediate stability and competence to a Giants organization that has been desperate for it over at least the last decade, as it has cycled through coach after coach and disappointment after disappointment. He should also be able to bring with him a strong coaching staff, given the connections he has made over the years and the various coaches who have worked with him at one time or another. 

Reports have already circulated that he'll bring Todd Monken to New York as his offensive coordinator, which would be a very good hire as the Giants look to build their future around Jaxson Dart. Lamar Jackson was already a superstar before Monken got to Baltimore, but he certainly helped take Jackson's game to another level. If he can do the same for Dart, that would be extremely beneficial as the Giants look to improve after being one of the worst teams in the league. 

We don't yet know who Harbaugh would like to bring with him on the defensive side of the ball, but he's repeatedly found top defensive minds over the years. He's had coaches like Rex Ryan, Vic Fangio, Chuck Pagano, Dean Pees, Teryl Austin, Wink Martindale, Steve Spagnuolo, Mike Macdonald, Leslie Frazier, Jesse Minter, Zach Orr, Anthony Weaver and Dennard Wilson work under him as either coordinators or position coaches at one time or another over the last decade-plus, and the Ravens have routinely had one of the NFL's better defenses. A great deal of that obviously has to do with the talent they have been able to land on that side of the ball, thanks to an excellent front office, but Harbaugh has also brought in a bunch of strong defensive coaches, as mentioned.

Harbaugh's age (he'll turn 64 early next season) and the Ravens' recent propensity for blowing leads are slight concerns here, but they're mitigated by his long track record of success and the Giants' desperate need for someone who can professionalize the organization. You can, of course, find that type of coach anywhere if you turn over the right stones, but the Giants obviously valued Harbaugh's pedigree highly, and they moved quickly to strike on the man many viewed as the top candidate available this cycle.

What others are saying

CBS Sports senior NFL writer Pete Prisco was even more effusive in his praise of the Harbaugh hiring.

"For him, it's an 'A'," Prisco said. "It's the best job out there. And I said that when all the jobs opened up. And people say, 'What are you saying?' Well, it's the Giants. The New York Giants. You're in New York. 

"And not only that, you have a lot of young talent on that team to build around. If you look at the NFL, what do you want? You want a quarterback and you want pass rushers. Well, they have it. If you believe in Jaxson Dart -- and I think he can be successful -- then you have the quarterback and the pass rushers, so it makes sense from that standpoint. So, from his standpoint, it's an A. 

"From the Giants' standpoint, A+. You targeted him, you went and got him, and now it's all on you to make sure it works around him. I think this is a no-brainer hire for both sides. If I were John Harbaugh, that's the job I would want. If I were the New York Giants, John Harbaugh's the guy I would want."

CBS Sports HQ NFL analyst Danny Kanell echoed many of those sentiments. 

"I will give it an 'A+'," Kanell said. "This was the only coach that would come in and have us talking about this Giants organization as potentially a playoff team. And I don't think it'll only be me. With the young nucleus of talent that the Giants have on this roster, with the track record of success in building a winning culture, with the coordinator that he's most likely going to bring in with him, I think this is a home run hire for the Giants."

You're not going to find very many people out there who don't think this hiring is one of the better hirings of the cycle, no matter who lands the other available jobs. Harbaugh was sought after for a reason, and the Giants were able to land him before anyone else had a chance. Even if it doesn't work out, the process that led here was likely solid, even if it seemed somewhat predetermined that the Giants would zero in on Harbaugh if he ever became available.