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Washington Football Team head coach Ron Rivera worked with New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman in Carolina, but their history had nothing to do with his decision to take the job in D.C.
During a conference call on Wednesday, Rivera told reporters that the challenge of reviving the Washington organization appealed to him greatly and that fueled his choice. As far as Gettleman, Rivera has nothing but respect.
“My relationship with Dave Gettleman is good, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. My success that I had in Carolina if you look at it, five years, four of those five in the playoffs, were directly related to my relationship with Dave,” Rivera said. “Dave has a philosophy which I think is a very good one and which we’re trying to institute here, which is big guys give you a chance to compete.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for who he is as a general manager, but more importantly who he is as a man. I really do mean that, too, because he’s really a part of the reason I’ve had success as a head coach.”
Additionally, Rivera believes that Gettleman made the right choice for the Giants by selecting quarterback Daniel Jones in the first-round of the 2019 NFL Draft. And like Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy before him, Rivera expects Jones to eventually establish himself as one of the league’s best.
“I’ll tell you what, especially if you watch last week, the young man is progressing. And it’s a new system and it’s probably a system that’s a little bit more demanding too for him,” Rivera said. “Any time you change head coaches, you change coordinators, there’s going to be some things that you’re going to have to learn, but I tell you what, I like who he is, I like the way he plays.
“The philosophy of you’ve got to protect him and put good players around him, I think that’s where the Giants are headed. This is a good football team we’re playing, I don’t care about the record. This is the kind of team that they’re growing, they’re playing a lot of guys and you see improvement.”
Rivera also had a little experience with James Bradberry during their time in Carolina, and he’s not at all surprised by the success the cornerback is having here in 2020.
“He’s one of my favorites, he really is because he just comes to work and the guy works hard,” Rivera said. “He’s a big, physical corner. That’s what we needed in Carolina to be able to be competitive in the division because if you look at who he played against, [Saints WR] Michael Thomas, [Buccaneers WR] Mike Evans, he played against those kinds of guys, [Falcons WR] Julio Jones, [Falcons WR] Calvin Ridley. This guy competed at the highest level against the highest level players, and so he’s just one of those guys that came to work and was physical and was dependable.”
Now it’s up to Gettleman, Jones and Bradberry to shut down Rivera and the Washington Football Team in order to finally put that elusive first win on the board.
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