top coaching move of the 2026 NFL cycle<\/a> by USA TODAY, edging out notable hires across the league.<\/p>\nHarbaugh, fresh off his long and successful tenure with the Baltimore Ravens, represents the kind of proven, culture-shifting leader the Giants have lacked in recent years.<\/p>\n
Expecting the former Ravens coach to replicate what the New England Patriots or Chicago Bears achieved in Year 1 of their new regimes would be unreasonable. Still, Harbaugh’s track record \u2013 just three losing seasons in 18 years \u2013 is the stuff of dreams for a Giants franchise tied for the fewest wins since 2017 (44).<\/p>\n
Harbaugh was the one option this cycle who looked capable of flipping an organization’s culture, even if it required some uncomfortable shifts. Given how set in their ways the Giants have been, the transformation might not take place overnight. But Big Blue has seen sharp play-callers flame out, so inspiring hope was going to necessitate finding someone capable of addressing the very core of the organization.<\/p>\n
While immediate Super Bowl contention may be a stretch, Harbaugh’s arrival gives the Giants their most credible path back to sustained relevance in years.<\/p>\n
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Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 27, 2026, 5:00 p.m. ET The New York Giants‘ decision to hire John Harbaugh has been ranked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2067],"tags":[95878,7,519,1917,56,2321,2469,6,96069,96070,95882,95945,95896,95891,95888,95895,95906,95884,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-711171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-giants","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-giants","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-giants","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkgiants","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnflgiants","17":"tag-sstsngiants","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagjohn-harbaugh","20":"tag-tagnational-sports","21":"tag-tagnew-york-giants","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-positive","25":"tag-tagsports-coaching-training","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115972064358095883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Expert NFL picks: