Source: Giants begin making changes to front office, coaching staff in wake of John Harbaugh hiring
Giants senior vice president of football operations and strategy Kevin Abrams. Credit: Giants.com
The Giants’ first major changes in the John Harbaugh era came late Wednesday night.
The team parted ways with senior vice president of football operations and strategy Kevin Abrams, a league source confirmed to Newsday. Special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial also was among the coaches who won’t be retained next season.
Defensive line coach Andre Patterson, inside linebackers coach John Egorugwu, cornerbacks coach Jeff Burris and secondary coach/pass game coordinator Marquand Manuel will not return, the source confirmed.
All five assistants met with Harbaugh on Wednesday.
Abrams was with the team since 1999 when he initially hired as the team’s salary cap analyst. He was later promoted to assistant general manager, which he held for 20 seasons, including the Giants’ most recent two Super Bowl championships.
This past season was Abrams’ fourth in his most recent capacity.
While assistant general manager Abrams played a key role in negotiating contracts and was once seen as the successor to former general manager Dave Gettleman.
When the Giants fired general manager Jerry Reese in 2017 along with then-coach Ben McAdoo, Abrams was named interim general manager.
Abrams’ dismissal is part of organizational restructuring with Harbaugh hired as head coach. It’s likely more shakeups could come following the Giants going 4-13 last season and 7-27 over the last two seasons.
Harbaugh was given more power over personnel than previous Giants coaches given his experience and track record of success following 18 seasons with the Ravens.
He’s also reporting directly to president/CEO John Mara as opposed to general manager Joe Schoen and will have final say in personnel matters.
“He’s going to be the most important cog in the wheel,” Giants senior player personnel executive Chris Mara said Tuesday.
Harbaugh will also bring in some new coaches as he began interviews on Wednesday to fill out his coordinator positions as well as position coaches. He could choose to retain some assistants from the previous staff but it was expected some would be let go.
Patterson and Egorugwu spent the previous four seasons with the Giants as part of former coach Brian Daboll’s first staff. Ghobrial spent two seasons coaching the Giants’ special teams after being the Jets’ assistant special teams coordinator from 2021-23.
Burris and Manuel were hired last offseason.
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.
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