Will Texans GM Nick Caserio give former Giants coach Joe Judge a second chance?

The New York Giants fired Joe Judge Tuesday. The G-Men will be looking for their fourth coach since two-time Super Bowl champion coach Tom Coughlin retired at the end of the 2015 season.

Judge will also be looking for a job. Could he find one with the Houston Texans?

Certainly Judge may have been worse than David Culley when it came to failed expectations in 2021. The Giants have a first-round quarterback in Daniel Jones, a Pro Bowl running back in Saquon Barkley, and decent weapons in Kadarius Toney, Evan Engram, and Kenny Golladay. New York’s defense was also pretty stout, especially along the defensive line.

Somehow the Giants managed to finish 4-13, the same as the moribund Texans. After a 6-10 finish, a change had to be made.

Whereas the Texans seemed to gain momentum near the end of the season, going 2-3 in Davis Mills’ final five games, the Giants finished on a six-game losing streak and went 1-5 in the division.

Maybe Judge can’t coach a team, but he can coach special teams.

Before taking over in New York, Judge was a special teams assistant for the New England Patriots from 2012-14 before taking over as special teams coordinator in 2015. For the next five seasons, Judge held the role and doubled up as receivers coach in his final season with the Giants. The Patriots went to three straight Super Bowls from 2016-18, winning two of them. In 2019, the Patriots were tied with the San Francisco 49ers for the ninth-highest yards per punt return at 8.0, and they were tied for 17th-most kickoff return yards with 22.1.

To this point, Texans general manager Nick Caserio, who was with the Patriots going back to 2001 in various capacities, has not infused coach David Culley’s staff with any former Bill Belichick assistants. Given that the Texans were one of eight teams to have a kickoff return for a touchdown, and finished tied for eighth-most yards per punt at 46.7, it is safe to say Frank Ross’ job might be safe.

However, if Caserio decides to move on from Culley following the 2021 season, there may be an opening for Judge as an assistant. Caserio shouldn’t consider Judge as a Culley replacement under any circumstance.