Former Giants head coach Ben McAdoo could be on the verge of returning to the NFL.
McAdoo, fired by the Giants in Dec. 2017, will interview for a position on new Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s staff, according to a report from ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.
Kingsbury was hired by the Cardinals on Tuesday, and is an offensive-minded head coach, who likely will call the plays.
McAdoo spent just under two seasons as Giants head coach, making the postseason in 2016, after spending two seasons as Tom Coughlin’s offensive coordinator.
As a head coach, McAdoo finished with a disappointing 13-15 record and was replaced shortly after a poorly conceived plan to have quarterback Geno Smith come into the game after Eli Manning started against the Oakland Raiders, which ultimately led to the two-time Super Bowl champion’s consecutive starts streak coming to a close.
“Right or wrong, I am at peace with how I handled the decision to play quarterbacks other than Eli Manning down the stretch of last season,” McAdoo said in an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King this summer. “I was not ending Eli’s career with the Giants; I was making sure we knew what we had behind him with a high draft choice prior to a big quarterback draft.”
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The Cardinals’ offense underachieved this past season, despite trading up to select quarterback Josh Rosen No. 10 overall out of UCLA in last April’s NFL Draft.
Following a 3-13 finish that saw Rosen complete just 55.2 percent of his passes for 2,278 yards with 11 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, the Cardinals fired defensive minded coach Steve Wilks after just one season, in favor of Kingsbury.
Perhaps Kingsbury sees value in McAdoo’s prior experience with the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach from 2012-13, and his work with Aaron Rodgers as a reason to interview him for the offensive coordinator’s job in Kingsbury’s first NFL head coaching job.
Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoNFL
