Boomer & Gio
Full Show - Harbaugh In Giants' Sights, Delusional Jets, Mark Messier Talks Rangers
07 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
It's the Boomer and Geo podcast from WFAN. And we're coming to you live from the Bilt Forward Top Studio. Boomer Esaias and Greg Giannotti. It's Boomer and Geo on the fans. Simulcast across the country on CBS Sports Network. And wherever you are on the free Odyssey app. Good Wednesday morning. There was speculation. There were rumors. There were talks, but it actually happened yesterday.
The Baltimore Ravens and John Arbaugh part ways after 18 years. And of course, immediately, John Arbaugh shoots up everybody's list as the Number one candidate to take over any of these openings that are out there in 2026 and the Giants being at the top of that list. We know Kevin Stefanski is going to talk to the Giants today, and I still believe that would be a very good hire for the Giants.
But I think that, of course. With Harbaugh's resume and the fact that he is someone that can come in and settle things immediately. That alpha male buck stops here guy that we have been talking about coming to both the Jets and the Giants for the last number of years. That guy who immediate credibility when he steps into the building is available now. Well, he's going to be the number one choice.
And I hope that he looks at the Giants like we look at the Giants as a really good opening right now. Good morning, Boomer. How are you? Yeah, good morning, Jim. Doing well. Listen, we're still waiting to hear on Todd Bowles as well.
Chapter 2: How did John Harbaugh become a top candidate for coaching jobs?
So there could be eight firings. We knew that there would be at least seven, and now comes this. I don't necessarily know. It's not shocking. I mean, you know, once that report came out about Lamar Jackson sleeping in meetings, you know that was coming from internally, and there were reports out of Baltimore that supposedly John Harbaugh lost the locker room, and, you know, there was a
big disconnect somewhere along the line. And I think that has to do more with coach and quarterback kind of relationship. And to me, Steve Bishotti picked the quarterback over the coach because the coach has been there for 18 years. And it's also easier to get rid of a coach than it is a quarterback. It is. And you could, you know, you Pay the coach out.
He's got two more years left on his contract. So, you know, maybe John Harbaugh wants to take a year off, kind of like Mike Frabel did if he wanted to. Doesn't sound like it. The insiders yesterday were saying he wants to jump right back in. Right. And the reason you'd want to jump right back in is because there are a couple very, very... interesting job opportunities for him.
Now, I would think he'd want to get away from the AFC, so that means Jackson Dart and the New York Giants, East Coast. He would be perfect for the New York Giants. By the way, Kevin Stefanski is perfect for the New York Giants. If you told me that either one of them... Got the job. I would be really, really happy for Giant fans. And I would say, you guys got yourself real professionals.
Now, remember, John Harbaugh has the special teams background. And he would be more, I think, of the CEO type of head coach that would bring in strong coordinators, both on offense and defense. And I'm sure he probably has some people in mind already, much like you. Kevin Stefanski has in mind already. So either one of those guys would be great for the Giants.
And quite frankly, either one of those guys would be great for any of these openings. And the question is really how far and how long are the Giants willing to go with a contract offer? Because these agents are going to be using this as leverage against every other single team out there. And by the way... I'm going to throw this out there.
If I were the Jets and these two guys are available, I would seriously consider it. And by the way, neither one of those guys are going to go to the Jets. There has been a team that has contacted, I believe, Harbaugh. But still has a coach. But still has a coach. And that leads me to believe that, you know, who is that team? I would think that team could be Tampa Bay. But I don't know that.
That's pure speculation on my part. But, yeah, so the firing does not come as a surprise because we all talked about either he or Tomlin being available after what happened on Sunday night. Yeah, and there's no way.
I mean, I know that on paper, just normal logic, you would say, hey, if you could get John Harbaugh or Kevin Stefanski, these two guys you didn't know were going to be available, and you're keeping Aaron Glenn, well, now change your mind, get rid of Aaron Glenn and bring these two guys in. It is a complete impossibility for a couple of reasons.
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Chapter 3: What factors could influence John Harbaugh's decision on the Giants job?
is that they're going to command a very big salary. And John Harbaugh was making a lot of money in Baltimore. He's going to be making a lot of money in his next job.
And if you think Woody Johnson's going to pay off Aaron Glenn, who's certainly not going to get a head coaching job, to offset that money next year and then pay John Harbaugh $15, $20 million a year, whatever the hell he's going to get, you're nuts. So the Jets are stuck with Aaron Glenn, and you've got to deal with it.
I just said, you know, I was just saying that in a perfect world, this is what would happen. I wasn't saying it's going to happen. You're not the only one, though. I heard that yesterday. I heard that all day long about, oh, well, now you've got to fire Aaron Glenn and go get John Harbaugh. You think John Harbaugh's going to go anywhere near the Jets?
I mean, like, John Harbaugh, he wouldn't even get close to that building. To me, it seems like, you know, the Giants are the perfect fit. Yeah. Yeah. Now, there's obviously, you know, all sorts of possibilities. The thing about the giant job that makes it really attractive is Jackson Dart. That's the one thing that every coach needs. Every coach wants. They have to have the quarterback.
And I would think that John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski would love nothing more than to be standing on the sideline as the head coach of the Giants. Again, you know, we're... Everybody's assuming all these guys want to go dive in back in, and I assume that too as well.
And maybe Steve Bishotti, the owner of the Baltimore Ravens, understands that as well, that he would have the last two years of John Harbaugh's contract picked up by somebody else. Oh, of course, yeah. I mean, you would imagine that. And the Harbaugh's are guys that work. And him taking a year off would surprise me, especially with a couple of attractive jobs out there.
But, you know, and also another thing about the Jets and the Giants fans that, you know, I'm hearing yesterday is any nitpicking of these two guys. Now, I know there's no perfect head coach out there. There's no perfect head coach. But any nitpicking of Stefanski. Mike Frabel was a perfect head coach. But he wasn't because he was also fired by the Tennessee Titans.
He was the perfect head coach for the Patriots. It was a no-brainer. This is kind of like how I feel about either one of these two coaches for the Giants. It's a no-brainer. Let me finish the point here. Okay, go ahead. So there's no such thing as a perfect head coach out there. There may be great fits for great places, but anybody who's a Jet or Giant fan that is nitpicking these guys, stop.
After all the slop that you have had to get one of these two guys in Stefanski and Harbaugh to settle down all the noise and the nonsense in these franchises is 100%. Home run 10 times out of 10.
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Chapter 4: Why is Kevin Stefanski a strong candidate for the Giants?
And how much does John Harbaugh want to make sure that Joe Shane isn't the guy in the building who's going to be telling him what to do? That is a big part of it.
And if I'm Joe Shane, the best way to have job security and stay there with the New York Giants is hiring the best head coach and making sure you can work with him and not being afraid of someone like John Harbaugh coming into the building and it being John Harbaugh's building. I would say, you know... I think Baltimore has one of the best front offices in football.
Cleveland has one of the worst front offices in football, although they did have a great draft this past year. It's just that they can't get the quarterback thing right in Cleveland for whatever reason. All right, so I think both of these coaches, you know –
For Harbaugh, leaving after 18 years was probably a hard thing to do, but ultimately, he, like any one of us, sometimes needs a new direction, needs a new opportunity, needs a new challenge. He is an extremely competitive guy. He is about as...
I think as competitive as there is on the sideline in the NFL, and I would say the same thing about Kevin Stefanski, don't get me wrong, it's just that Harbaugh has been in the AFC North for so long going against the Steelers, the Browns, the Bengals, and those games have been wars. If I'm like Joe Burrow, I am happy today that John Harbaugh is gone.
Well, I thought maybe the Steelers, if the front office and ownership there were thinking about maybe moving on from Mike Tomlin, that this would actually make them want to keep him because now the Ravens, you don't know what they're going to be. And all of a sudden, Mike Tomlin just seems more of an attractive head coach when John Harbaugh is out of there.
But I also don't disagree with them going in a different direction.
Right.
After 18 years, it happens. It happens to Bill Belichick in New England. It happens to everybody. Here's the thing. I want a guy, if I'm a Giant fan, that is going to be one competitive SOB standing on that sideline.
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Chapter 5: Why is John Harbaugh unlikely to coach the Cleveland Browns?
Ron, I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell that John Harbaugh goes to coach the Cleveland Browns. He came from one of the most well-liked, well-respected, and stable owners in the NFL, in Steve Bishotti, to go to one of the most unpredictable, brain-dead, and what word did you use? I don't know. I've used a lot of words. Dysfunctional, wackadoodles.
Chapter 6: What factors influence a coach's choice of team?
Whatever it is, he's not going to work for Jimmy Haslam. In that same division, I mean, unless he felt like he had such a major axe to grind, like Brett Favre did when he had to get to the Minnesota Vikings and beat the Green Bay Packers, there's just no way he's going to go to that team. There's no axe to grind here. And let me tell you, he looks at that quarterback situation going, no.
I don't want that. I'm telling you, all these coaches, if you have your choice of a place to go, if everything's equal in terms of financial input on the roster and things, let's say all of that stuff is equal. Now you've got to look at the roster that you're inheriting because you want to have initial success. You want what Mike Vrabel has. You want what Ben Johnson has.
You want what Leon Combe has. You want those. So if you are John Harbaugh and you start looking around, you could say that Cleveland's got a great defense. I could see him looking and saying, wow, that defense is awesome.
Chapter 7: What makes the Giants an attractive coaching opportunity?
I could coach that team. But that quarterback situation is a mess there. Well, the owner. I mean, it's really the owner. Yeah, no, but the quarterback situation is a mess.
Chapter 8: What are the implications of John Harbaugh's potential hiring?
But I'm saying that everything was equal where a guy like John Harbaugh or Kevin Stefanski had certain things within their contracts that each of the teams were going to give them, where everything is equal, like money is equal, influence is equal, roster construction is equal, collaboration, liking the general manager.
If all of that is good at four different spots, what is the difference maker when it comes to making a decision? Let's go to Nick. The quarterback. Yeah, of course. It's a rhetorical question. Nick in Baltimore. What's going on, Nick? Hey, what's going on, guys? Big fan. Listen to you guys every single day. You've been very impressionable on my young radio career.
And I actually do the Ravens game day halftime and post for the Baltimore Ravens. Oh, you're like the Jerry Recco of the Cowboys. Yeah. Hey, I'll take it. Is that an Odyssey station? It is not, so I won't plug it too much for you guys. Okay. All right. That's all right. Well, you got inside information on John Holbrook, so tell us about him. What do you think?
Yeah, well, I was shocked that it happened. I think the city of Baltimore and a lot of the fans have been frustrated with the past couple of seasons, but you just never know if Rashadi's going to make a move like that. I think he's a great fit for the Giants. He's stable. And, you know, he won't be intimidated by that New York media, not one bit. I think he'd be really good for Jackson Dart.
My only question is, if he decides not to coach this year, like he takes a Mike Grable route or a Sean Payton and takes a year off – You know, what's next for the Giants? Because I think the Ravens are by far the most attractive job right now. And if they don't get Harbaugh, then I think what's next for them? What's to say if he doesn't want to come down to Baltimore?
Oh, I think Stefanski would want to be here. I think if all things are equal, I'm just speculating just like you are, Nick. I mean, those are the two guys that the Giants should be targeting, and I think they're going to get one of them. I really do. And then the other guy will have his choice of probably three of the other four jobs. Nick, who do you want the Ravens' next head coach to be?
You know what? I'm tend to leaning on Brian Flores. Sounds like the Raiders are leaning on him, too, as well. Yeah, I mean, I love Brian Flores. I think he's definitely going to get a job this hiring cycle, which sucks for me. What about Rob Sala? I don't know, man.
I mean, I know that people really like... We look at Rob Sala as a guy who just didn't get it done here, but that's not how the league necessarily looks at him. I think they look at him as a great defensive coordinator who got caught up in a really crappy situation with a crappy owner and an Achilles injury with Aaron Rodgers and maybe deserves another chance. So I don't...
But their defense has been bad towards the end of the year, though. And I understand it's a million injuries. Well, they have so many injuries, man. Yeah. By the way, and Kyle Shanahan said this. He said, in order for us to go to the Super Bowl, we have to beat the Seattle Seahawks in Week 18. And they didn't do that. So now they have to go on the road.
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