The New York Giants land sought-after Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, dashing the Buccaneers' hopes of his return to Tampa Bay.
Buccaneers fans who wanted Todd Monken to return as Tampa Bay's offensive coordinator probably aren't going to be too happy with Thursday's news.
Hired late Wednesday by the Giants, new head coach John Harbaugh is set to bring Monken with him to New York.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic first reported the news early Thursday morning.
Moken had interviewed for the Bucs' offensive coordinator job, which opened when the team fired Josh Grizzard after one season.
There was reason to believe that Monken would be in play for the Bucs, given that he interviewed for the job and also because he had been Tampa's OC before, having a successful run from 2016-2018. Over those three seasons, Tampa was fifth in the league in yards per game, second in passing yards per game and first in third-down conversion percentage.
Monken was Tampa's receivers coach, helping Mike Evans to three of his NFL-record-tying 11 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. In Monken's last season in Tampa Bay, Evans had 1,524 receiving yards, which are still his career high and the most in Tampa Bay history.
Although Monken has ties to the Buccaneers and the Glazer family, his relationship with John Harbaugh apparently is stronger.
After 2018, Bruce Arians became the Buccaneers' head coach, and he didn't keep Monken on staff.
So Monken moved on to Cleveland, where he had one unsuccessful season as the Browns' OC.
After that, Monken went back to college, becoming Georgia's offensive coordinator under Kirby Smart. Monken helped lead the Bulldogs to consecutive national championships. This caught Harbaugh's attention, and in 2023, Harbaugh hired Monken to coordinate the offense for his Baltimore Ravens.
Monken's time in Baltimore featured highs and lows. In 2023, Monken helped quarterback Lamar Jackson to his second MVP season, and Jackson had another elite campaign in 2024, earning first-team All-Pro honors.
The Ravens won the AFC North in both 2023 and 2024, but despite going 13-4 in Monken's first year with the team and 12-5 the next, the team failed to reach a Super Bowl.
This past season, the Ravens finished 8-9, and missed the playoffs. Team owner Steve Bisciotti announced Harbaugh's ouster on Jan. 6.
Now the Giants have Harbaugh at the helm, and Harbaugh is bringing Monken along for the ride.
It's unclear whether the Bucs wanted to hire Monken. In any case, he's off the board for Tampa Bay. The good news is, intriguing names such as former Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel are still on it.
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