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Before the New York Giants hired Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to be their new head coach, Matt Patricia was reportedly in the running for the job. The New York Daily news even reported that “all signs” were pointing to Patricia taking over the reins in the Big Apple.
Of course, that's not what happened. Patricia ultimately landed the head coaching job with the Detroit Lions, finally leaving his defensive coordinator post with the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick. Patricia was listed in head coaching rumors for years for various vacancies across the league, but he didn't pull the trigger until this winter.
After Detroit hired Patricia, the New York Post reported that he chose the Lions over the Giants because he wasn't “ready for a high-profile job.” In an interview with the Detroit Free Press' Dave Birkett, Patricia clarified what actually happened, saying that the position was never formally offered to him by New York.
“I don’t know if the Giants were, if it was me or not, or whatever the situation was,” Patricia told the Free Press after his introductory news conference Wednesday. “They were interviewing some other people, too. But I just think the time, for me, it’s like, ‘OK, I have this amount of time to worry about this and then I need to move on cause I need to focus on my job.'”
It wasn't until after the Lions and Patricia agreed to a deal in principle (since he was still preparing for the Super Bowl) that the Giants announced the hiring of Shurmur, which seemed to indicate that they were waiting on Patricia.
The bearded 43-year-old spent 14 seasons with the Patriots, moving from offensive assistant to assistant offensive line coach, linebackers coach, safeties coach, and ultimately defensive coordinator. 12 of those years were spent with Bob Quinn, Detroit's general manager, who was in New England's front office. Clearly, their connection was a factor as Patricia and the Lions came to an agreement.
