As expected, John Harbaugh is bringing coaches from his staff in Baltimore to New York.
One of his first additions will be Ravens assistant head coach/running backs coach Willie Taggart, according to The
Athletic’s Ian O’Connor, though it is not clear what role he will take. The Giants requested to interview Taggart for their offensive coordinator vacancy, but Todd Monken has long been considered the favorite for that job. Taggart would then be in line for his current title, just in New York instead of Baltimore.
However, the Ravens already blocked multiple coaches from interviewing for jobs on Harbaugh’s staff that would be lateral moves. Those could have been temporary decisions as the team landed on their next head coach and gave him a chance to retain select coaches. Given his history in Baltimore, it would make sense for Jesse Minter to keep some of his former colleagues.
So if the Giants do not hire Taggart as their offensive coordinator, the Ravens would be able to block his move to New York. All reporting indicates that the Giants are waiting to see if they can hire Monken, so it does not seem likely that they gave the job to Taggart. O’Connor’s report therefore suggests that the Ravens gave Taggart permission to make a lateral move to New York.
This could be a result of Minter deciding he wanted to find a different RBs coach, but it stands to reason that he would not make decisions on the team’s offensive assistants before hiring an offensive coordinator. Furthermore, Taggart has a long history with the Harbaugh family:
It makes sense that the Ravens would allow Taggart to follow John Harbaugh to New York given their longstanding relationship, but they may not make such concessions for other staff members. They have already blocked special teams coordinator Chris Horton from taking the same job on Harbaugh’s new staff, and Minter will likely stick with that decision. He worked with the Ravens’ defensive backs during his first stint in Baltimore, many of whom were key contributors on Horton’s special teams units. Minter may also keep other special teams coaches like Randy Brown and Anthony Levine, though the latter could be a candidate for the Giants’ special teams coordinator gig.
