With Rich Bisaccia off to Green Bay, the Raiders are in need of a new special teams coordinator. One candidate to help fill in Josh McDaniels' first staff in Vegas is ex-Giants head coach Joe Judge, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler (Twitter link).
Fowler states that the Raiders “have shown interest” in Judge to fill the role. The 40-year-old made a name for himself coaching special teams dating back to 2008 at the college level and 2012 in the NFL with New England. That Patriots connection to McDaniels and new general manager Dave Ziegler would certainly make Judge a familiar face.
Fowler adds, though, that Judge is “staying patient” less than one month after being fired by the Giants, so nothing is imminent at this point. If he were to join the Raiders’ staff, he would be the second coordinator to make the move out west from New York. Patrick Graham was hired as Vegas’ DC last week.
The tail end in particular of Judge’s lone HC tenure could cost him other opportunities to lead a staff for the foreseeable future. With a 10-23 overall record and a late-season offensive collapse causing the front office to change course and move on from him, Judge could return to his coaching roots in special teams to rebuild his future HC candidacy. If he were to do so in Vegas, it would at least be on a team led by old colleagues and with a track record of success in that phase of the game.
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