The New York Giants have watched as several former assistants and coordinators have found new jobs across the league, but that sort of poaching had not quite reached their doorstep.
That changed on Friday as the Chicago Bears announced the hiring of Deshea Townsend as their defensive backs coach.
Townsend, a fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1998 NFL Draft, broke into coaching following his retirement in 2011. The two-time Super Bowl champion cornerback served as the assistant defensive backs coach of the Arizona Cardinals (2011-2012), cornerbacks coach of Mississippi State University (2013-2015) and defensive backs coach of the Tennessee Titans (2016–2017) before joining the Giants as assistant defensive backs coach in 2018.
After the season had concluded, Giants head coach Pat Shurmur said he’d like his entire staff back in 2019, but would not stand in the way if any of his assistants were offered a promotion.
“I’m all for guys advancing, I really don’t want to stand in anyone’s way and I’ll have some opinions as to whether it’s advancement or not. But, listen, I had ambition as a young coach, you gain experience and want to move forward. I don’t want to stand in anyone’s way,” Shurmur said. “I think as long as I replace that guy with a career coach that’s open-minded, understands the importance of relationships and can work together with the staff, we’ll make it work.”
