The New York Giants are already letting John Harbaugh do his thing with the coaching staff, essentially letting go of everyone outside of two coaches from the 2025 staff.

Harbaugh will reportedly retain outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen and tight ends coach Tim Kelly from last year's team while letting all other coaches go, including interim head coach Mike Kafka. Interestingly enough, Harbaugh will not retain fan-favorite offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo nor his assistant, James Ferentz, for 2026. Harbaugh is reportedly looking into bringing in numerous Baltimore Ravens coaches from his past tenure.

The team has reportedly hired Dennard Wilson as their defensive coordinator, who previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans and worked under Harbaugh in 2023. New York will also reportedly hire special teams coordinator Chris Horton, who also worked under the former Ravens head coach.

My Hottest Take: Not Retaining Carmen Bricillo Might Be A Huge Error

If there was one thing the Giants struggled with over the last decade, it was their offensive line, with how many sacks were allowed and how inept the offense could be at times. The quarterback would run for his life, Saquon Barkley kept getting hurt behind the line, and the offense could never piece it together. Busts like Justin Pugh, Ereck Flowers, and Evan Neal never got proper development to perform at the National Football League level.

Bricillo turned the narrative of the Giants’ turnstile offensive line on its head this year, continuing the development of star left tackle Andrew Thomas, center John Michael Schmitz, and even reviving veteran right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. In return, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart had great time to develop in the pocket, while the running game (minus Cam Skattebo due to injury) performed rather well despite their lack of depth.

To put it in perspective, PFF ranked the Giants’ offensive line as the ninth-best unit in the entire NFL in 2025, even beating out the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. At the start of the 2023 season, just before Bricillo was hired, the team ranked 29th in the entire league. They finished in the 23rd spot in 2024, Bricillo’s first season as offensive line coach.

The Giants need an aggressive coach to anchor their offensive line, especially continuing the development of their players and any rookies that might come through the door in 2026. It’s currently unclear who Harbaugh wants to bring in for the newly-vacant spot, but he has to be as effective as Bricillo for it to be graded a success.

What You Need To Know: Harbaugh Wants To Baltimore-ize The Giants

Bricillo aside, most reports indicate Harbaugh wants to bring coaches from his past tenures to New York. As of publication time, the 63-year-old head coach is bringing on more coaches from his tenure in Baltimore: assistant linebackers coach Matt Pees, analyst Noah Riley, and running backs quality control coach Adam Schrack, among others.

He’s not done, supposedly, also planning to bring on Todd Monken as offensive coordinator, provided he doesn’t go to the Cleveland Browns. The team is also looking into bringing in former wide receivers coach Robert Prince for their offensive coordinator job if Monken moves on. Prince has no connection to Harbaugh directly, but was with the Detroit Lions during the days of Calvin Johnson.

What’s being shown here is the team letting the coach do the work he wants to do rather than the front office meddling in too much. Harbaugh wants his guys that he worked well with, knows, and believes can adapt the playbook from the Inner Harbor to the Meadowlands. Wilson, the team’s new defensive coordinator, did have a rocky time in Tennessee, but being under Harbaugh again, along with a solid record with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 and 2022, might help him find his voice.

Before You Go: Don’t Panic, Let The Coach Do The Work

New York sports fans are notoriously hard to please, the New York sports media is even harder to please. There’s already been some controversy and disdain from fans about the move to not keep Bricillo and revamp the whole coaching structure and philosophy. Some are already even calling the Harbaugh hire a failure in the wake of the move, demanding the team even trade Dart for draft picks.

To Giants fans around the world: Relax.

Harbaugh has been in the head coaching spot for nearly 20 years at this point and he has a Super Bowl ring, a track record of solid defenses, and multiple playoff victories to go with his resume. It’s fine to get angry with the idea that Bricillo will not be with the Giants in 2026, but this is a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Think about it this way, the team could allow Harbaugh to bring his personal choice of an offensive line coach, George Warhop, to the Meadowlands. While he’s not as shiny of a choice as Bricillo, he has over 40 years of experience on offensive lines, and of course, the last two years were under Harbaugh. Give it some time to develop.