Giants' Colt McCoy hopes to use backup QB job to sharpen skills as a future coach
Redskins quarterback Colt McCoy stands on the field during the first half of an NFL game against the Patriots on Oct. 6, 2019, in Washington. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
The Giants’ newest backup quarterback is using his current gig to get ready for his future one.
He’s Colt McCoy now, but down the road he might want to be Coach McCoy.
So while he’ll spend this season helping to usher Daniel Jones through his second year in the NFL and staying ready to jump into the action if necessary, he’s also fine-tuning the skills that could serve him well in his next career.
“I look at it from a standpoint of what if I was to be a coach someday,” McCoy said of his role with the Giants in 2020. “I try to be another set of eyes, another set of ears, another encouraging voice and like a coach for whoever the starter is. I think it will help me if I want to make a transition someday to be a coach, to call plays. I want to understand and learn this system in a way that’s detailed, it’s structured and that I can call the game the way Jason [Garrett] would call the game.
“I have played in a lot of different systems. My dad was my high school coach. I’ve been a water boy since I was 3 years old,” McCoy said. “I’ve been around the game and I love the game.”
Coaching would give him a chance to be around it much longer.
Garrett, the Giants’ new offensive coordinator, followed a very similar path. His father was a coach. He had a long career in the NFL, mostly as a backup. And he became a play-caller and a head coach before coming to the Giants this season as the offensive coordinator.
McCoy has been with the Giants for only a few weeks, but he said he already has picked Garrett’s brain on that trajectory.
“I’ve had great conversations with Coach Garrett, and some about that, for sure,” McCoy said. “He certainly has done that. He played for a long time and he’s been a super-successful head coach. I’m excited to learn from him.”
McCoy said he believes there is “value to playing for a coach that played quarterback” at a high level. He experienced that with Jay Gruden in Washington. Gruden was a star player in the Arena League before he was a head coach in the NFL, but still was able to see the game through the lens of a signal-caller and passer.
“There are little things that pop up, and he sees the field the same way we do and he understands,” McCoy said of quarterbacks-turned-coaches. “I think there is benefit to that.”
McCoy, 33, said he isn’t locked in to coaching as his next step. And he’s not eager to take that next step just yet.
“I still think I have a lot of football to be played left in me,” he said.
But coaching has always been an intriguing option for him.
“I certainly don’t want to rule that out,” he said. “I’ve been playing football for a long time and been around the game a long time, too. I think I would be a good coach. I’ve played in a lot of systems. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp and understanding of the game.”
So while he teaches Jones the ropes in 2020, he’ll be watching out for lessons for himself.
“I think there’s a lot of value in this place, in this organization, to really learn more football,” McCoy said of the Giants and the coaching staff. “I’m excited about that.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
