Report: Pat Shurmur expected to be hired by New York Giants

UPDATE: The NFL Network is now saying that Pat Shurmur will, in fact, be the next head coach of the New York Giants. Original story follows below.

Last week, we brought you the report from a television station in Arizona that declared that Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur was the leading candidate to fill the head coaching vacancy with the Arizona Cardinals. However, today another team has emerged, so if the Cardinals want him, they may have a fight on their hands.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network is reporting that Shurmur is now the favored candidate for the New York Giants’ head coaching job. The Giants were the only team that fired their coach during the 2017 season, as they relieved Bob McAdoo of his duties with a few weeks left in the season.

Both the Cardinals and the Giants interviewed Shurmur during the Vikings’ bye week before the Divisional Playoffs. That means that, should the Vikings win the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night, either of those teams could give him a second interview during the bye week between the NFC Championship Game and the big game on the first Sunday in February.

Shurmur has done quite a lot with the Vikings’ offense this year in the wake of injuries and other issues. Now, it appears that not one, but two teams have taken notice, and there could end up being a pretty significant battle for his services.

Either way, as I said in the piece linking Shurmur to the Cardinals last week, we should probably get used to the idea that Pat Shurmur isn’t going to be roaming the Vikings’ sidelines in 2018.