Giants hire Carmen Bricillo: 6 things to know about the O-line coach
New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll completed their comprehensive and in-depth one-person search for a new offensive line coach on Thursday.
The team announced that Carmen Bricillo, the only man publicly known to have interviewed for the job, had been hired to replace Bobby Johnson, who was fired on Monday.
Here are six quick things to know about Bricillo.
Patriots roots
Given Daboll’s history, it should come as little surprise that Bricillo has similar NFL roots.
The 47-year-old Bricillo has more than 20 years of coaching experience but just five at the NFL level. The first three of those came with the New England Patriots under then-head coach Bill Belichick. He served first as a coaching assistant (2019), and later as the co-offensive line coach (2020), and finally, as the full-time offensive line coach (2021).
Took over for Cole Popovich
In 2020, the Patriots intended to go with Cole Popovich as their offensive line coach. Bricillo was to be his right-hand man but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and things changed.
The Patriots ended up firing Popovich prior to the 2021 regular season for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Bricillo raced to get the jab and was rewarded by becoming the team’s full-time offensive line coach.
Popovich sat out the 2021 season before joining Troy in 2022 and then spent this past season as the Houston Texans’ assistant offensive line coach.
Coaching philosophy
Bricillo has a basic philosophy that’s shared by every NFL coach and assistant in the league: Daily improvement.
“That’s one of my core philosophies — your goal should be constant improvement,” Bricillo said, via NorthJersey.com. “I know as a coach I’m always trying to get myself better. You expect that of yourself, especially at our position. The nature of the position is such a developmental one. You never have it. The skill set and the things that are required to do the position well are not natural, so you really have to work at them. The development is never done.”
Excelled with Raiders
Even with tackle Kolton Miller missing four games due to injury, the Raiders offensive line overperformed in 2023. They finished with the sixth-highest pass-blocking efficiency rating (86.3) in the NFL and were considered a top-10 unit.
Las Vegas allowed 40 sacks on the season which was less than half of what the Giants allowed (85).
Holds himself accountable
In 2022 when coaching the Raiders’ offensive line, Bricillo abruptly paused the tape during a film review and apologized to the players. He saw something that he failed to prepare the offensive line for and shouldered the blame.
That resonated throughout the locker room.
“That wasn’t the way things had been done around here before,” a Raiders defender told Sports Illustrated. “(An O-linemen) said to me, ‘Carmen just [expletive] apologized to us. Can you [expletive] believe that?’ I was like, my position coach wouldn’t do that. I think everybody on this team respects Carmen, and the O-line loves him because he is real.”
Demands perfection
Bricillo walks a fine line between old-school disciplinarian and players’ coach. He ultimately expects perfection.
“Since the first day Carm came in, he’s just demanded perfection, and you really don’t want anything else from a coach, especially an offensive line coach, with the consistency that’s required to play offense line. So, since day one, he came in, and he’s pushed our group to do better in everything we do. And we really respect that,” Raiders center Andre James told SI. “Like I said, you want a guy like that, just a good guy you want to have in your room. And guys respect him, he’s a great leader, and it’s been great having him.”
