Report: Longtime NYG assistant David Merritt to join Steve Wilks’ staff
Jan 24, 2018, 7:50 AM | Updated: 11:37 am
David Merritt at New York Giants Training Camp in 2010. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
(AP Photo/Hans Pennink)
Tuesday, Steve Wilks shook a lot of hands and did a lot of interviews on his first day as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
Wednesday, the job kicks into high gear.
Wilks said during his introductory press conference that he’d like to have his coaching staff assembled by the time Super Bowl LII kicks off in Minneapolis on Feb. 4. Apparently, one more coaching spot has been filled.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that David Merritt, a longtime assistant with the New York Giants, will head West to join Wilks’ staff and coach the Cardinals’ secondary.
Merritt, 46, has been on the Giants’ staff since 2004, when Tom Coughlin took over as head coach. He transitioned as part of Ben McAdoo’s coaching staff in 2016 and 2017.
In his 12 seasons as the team’s secondary coach, he’s coached two Pro Bowlers in safety Antrel Rolle (2010, 2013) and safety Landon Collins (2016, 2017). Collins was also a First-Team All-Pro in 2016.
Merritt was a seventh-round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins out of North Carolina State, where he was a teammate of Cardinals GM Steve Keim, in 1993. He ended up playing three seasons with the Cardinals as a linebacker from 1993 to 1995.
