Source: Giants to hire Dennard Wilson as defensive coordinator, Chris Horton as special teams coordinator

John Harbaugh has found his first Giants coordinators, and both are names with whom he’s familiar.

The Giants are expected to hire former Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson in the same capacity and Chris Horton as special teams coordinator, a league source confirmed to Newsday.

Wilson, who was with the Titans for the past two seasons, was Harbaugh’s defensive backs coach with the Ravens in 2023. He also interviewed with the Giants in 2024 for their defensive coordinator vacancy before they hired Shane Bowen.

Horton has been the Ravens’ special teams coordinator since 2019 and has worked on the Ravens’ staff since 2014.

Under Wilson’s watch, the Titans were 21st in total defense, 28th in scoring (28.1 points per game) and 28th in yards per play allowed during a 3-14 season. They also were 15th in rushing defense (114.6 yards per game) and 23rd in passing.

It’s a sharp decline from 2024, when the Titans were second in total and passing defense despite being 26th in rushing and 30th in scoring (27.1).

Wilson is no stranger to MetLife Stadium. He was the Jets’ defensive backs coach from 2017-20 and also served as their defensive passing game coordinator in 2019 and 2020. He’s also coached defensive backs with the Eagles (2021-22) and Rams (2015-16).

Horton previously was the Ravens’ assistant special teams coach before Harbaugh promoted him to oversee special teams. The Ravens were fifth in opponent punt return average, eighth in punting average and ninth in opponent kickoff return average this past season.

Horton briefly was a member of the Giants in 2012. He signed in March and went through training camp but was waived in August. It was the last stop of his NFL career after he was drafted by Washington in 2008 and played there three seasons as a defensive back.

The Ravens reportedly blocked teams from interviewing Horton for a lateral move early last week. Then they hired former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter as head coach, which freed up assistants to pursue other jobs.

The Giants used four kickers last season. Graham Gano was placed on injured reserve. Younghoe Koo and Jude McAtamney both filled in and were waived. Rookie Ben Sauls kicked for the final three games and was 8-for-8 on field goals.

Another Ravens coordinator, Todd Monken, remains the favorite to land the Giants’ offensive coordinator job, and that reunion could happen this week. Monken is a finalist for the head-coaching opening with the Browns, having received two interviews there, but if he does not get that job, he is widely expected to join the Giants as play-caller and chief caretaker for second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart.

The Giants already have interviewed at least two other men for the offensive coordinator job.

Willie Taggert, who was the Ravens’ running backs coach and assistant head coach the past two seasons, is expected to be on the Giants’ staff in a capacity similar to the role he previously played in Baltimore.

The Giants also reportedly interviewed Robert Prince for the coordinator job. Prince is a longtime wide receivers coach in the NFL, most recently with the Dolphins. Giants fans will remember him as the Cowboys assistant who was down on Jalin Hyatt’s route-running at his Tennessee pro day in an interaction captured for the streaming documentary “Hey Rookie, Welcome to the NFL.”

Wilson and Horton are among the first new members of Harbaugh’s staff to be confirmed. The Giants will retain outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen and tight ends coach Tim Kelly from last season, although the capacity in which they’ll serve under Harbaugh is unclear.

Among the most recent staff assemblies, newly hired Giants head coaches scrambled or settled to find assistants. Pat Shurmur wanted to bring Kevin Stefanski with him from Minnesota as his offensive coordinator, but that move was blocked by the Vikings. Joe Judge was paired with Jason Garrett by ownership that was leery of his inexperience as a head coach. Brian Daboll initially wanted to keep Patrick Graham as his defensive coordinator before he left for the same job with the Raiders. Daboll wanted to hire Wilson to replace Wink Martindale two years ago, but he took the job with the Titans and the Giants wound up with Bowen.

Unlike those situations, Harbaugh gave the Giants a known commodity who could draw quality interest and has the experience of almost 20 years as a head coach from which to draw.

Newsday’s Tom Rock contributed to this story.

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.