Could Bill Belichick or Nick Saban fill the Giants head coaching vacancy?

As the NFL coaching carousel continues to spin slowly around, it’s possible that the task of reclaiming the NFC East could become a whole lot more difficult for the Dallas Cowboys.

Last Friday, ESPN’s Seth Wickersham wrote a story about a supposed power struggle between New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick, team owner Robert Kraft and quarterback Tom Brady. The crux of the article is that the working relationship between these three titans of the sport might not be feasible beyond the conclusion of this season.

Belichick, Kraft and Brady have all denied that there is a serious rift, but numerous people have speculated that the future hall-of-fame coach might return to the New York Giants, this time as a head coach. Belichick previously served as a Giants’ assistant coach and defensive coordinator from 1979 to 1990.

And for someone who is almost always tight-lipped with the media, he has directed plenty of praise toward his former organization in recent years.

This week, Belichick deflected questions about the possibility of a New York reunion, but several reports indicate the team is very interested in bringing him back to serve as the franchise’s next head coach. Several days ago, Robert Kraft told Peter King of the Monday Morning Quarterback that he believes Belichick will ‘absolutely’ be back as the Patriots’ head coach next season.

The only catch is that Belichick has wriggled his way out of a head coaching job he didn’t want before. At a truly bizarre news conference in 2000, the New York Jets were set to announce Belichick as their next head coach. Instead, he scribbled ‘ I resign as HC of the NYJ’ on a napkin, and eventually ended up in New England after a lengthy negotiation between the two teams and the NFL league office.

On Tuesday, an equally prominent candidate was linked to the Giants’ job. On The Herd with Colin Cowherd, former Arizona Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians was asked if he thought Alabama head coach Nick Saban would be interested in a second NFL head coaching stint.

This was Arians’ response:

No matter how much the Giants or any other team might pay him, it seems less likely that Belichick would leave New England given all of the success he’s had there.

The idea of Saban heading to the Giants is more realistic. The best active head coach in college football is just a few days removed from his sixth career national title victory. Since he arrived at Alabama in 2007, his teams have won an unprecedented five national championships in the past nine seasons.

Saban might also want another crack at being an NFL head coach. In just two seasons as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, he produced a lackluster 15-17 record before bolting back to the college game.

The Giants have made the playoffs just once since they won Super Bowl XLVI in 2012, but they remain the only franchise from the NFC East to capture a championship in the past 20 years. The last time a team from the division hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, other than New York, was the 1995 season when the Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17 in Super Bowl XXX.

This story was originally published January 10, 2018 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Could Bill Belichick or Nick Saban fill the Giants head coaching vacancy?."