EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Members of the New York Giants' brass met Monday afternoon at the team facility to discuss the possibility of changes to the coaching staff. Head coach Tom Coughlin, who's already been asked back for 2015, according to a source, was in the meeting along with general Jerry Reese and owner John Mara.
All three men are scheduled to address the media Tuesday morning. Whether they have decisions to announce on other staff members remained a mystery early Monday evening.
Multiple people close to the situation said Monday that special teams coordinator Tom Quinn was unlikely to be retained. And there has been speculation for weeks about the status of defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who could be in trouble as well after the Giants finished 29th in the league in total defense. Last year, when longtime offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride was likely to be fired, Gilbride spared the Giants and Coughlin a tough decision and retired on his own.
Fewell is not likely to do the same favor, and people close to the situation say Coughlin planned to make a case for keeping Fewell -- and possibly Quinn as well. The case for Fewell, according to those people, is that the Giants' defense was beset by crippling injuries this year, with five starters and a couple of other key contributors placed on injured reserve, and that the personnel issues the team has been facing make it difficult to blame the 6-10 season on one or two coordinators.
If Fewell is let go, the expectations are that the Giants would open up a defensive coordinator search the way they did last year with the search for Gilbride's replacement. That search ultimately turned up Ben McAdoo, a young and inexperienced coordinator the Giants decided to trust to implement a new system and a vision for the offense's future. However, several people close to the situation said the Giants would consider bringing back former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to replace Fewell if Fewell is indeed let go.
Spagnuolo was the Giants' defensive coordinator in 2007 and 2008, presiding over the defense that beat the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Since then, he's gone on to less-than-successful stints as head coach of the Rams and defensive coordinator of the Saints, and he is currently coaching defensive backs with the Baltimore Ravens. One source said Monday that Spagnuolo would be open to returning to the Giants if they did want him back.
However, as of Monday afternoon, the job wasn't yet open. Fewell still seemed more likely to go than to stay, but as of 6 pm ET he had not yet been informed of a decision either way.
The Giants started off well after an offseason overhaul and the installation of a new offense under McAdoo. But after a 3-2 start, the Giants lost seven games in a row to tumble out of contention and miss the playoffs for the third straight year.