The New York Giants have announced that Everett Withers has been hired as their new defensive backs coach.
The New York Giants have found their new defensive backs coach, per Michael Eisen of the official Giants website.
On Wednesday, it was announced by Giants head coach Pat Shurmur that Everett Withers has been hired as Big Blue’s new defensive backs coach.
Everything you need to know about the #NYGiants new defensive backs coach, Everett Withers.
— New York Giants (@Giants) February 27, 2019
Withers previously worked as the head football coach for Texas State University. He held that position from 2016-2018. Before that, he was the head coach for James Madison University from 2014-2015.
This hire comes a week after former Giants defensive backs coach Lou Anarumo was hired to be the new defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. Anarumo only worked for the Giants for the 2018 season. He previously was the defensive backs coach for the Miami Dolphins from 2012-2017.
Withers will now coach a group of defensive backs that was 23rd in the NFL this past season in passing yards allowed per game. The Big Blue secondary proved to be one of the more-struggling groups last season, allowing an average of 252.8 passing yards per game in 2018.
On top of that, Withers and the Giants may not be able to retain their star safety, Landon Collins. Collins’ four-year rookie contract is up this offseason. He’ll be looking for a long-term deal that the Giants may not be able to give him right now.
They do have the option to franchise tag the All-Pro safety, but that’s also a very expensive doing. Franchise tagging Collins would cost the Giants around $11. They may not want to do that for just one year of Collins, who hasn’t played an entire season of football since 2016.
Nonetheless, hopefully, Withers is the missing piece for this defensive backs group. They’ll definitely be looking to (and need to) improve next season from what they showed in 2018.
