The Buzz...Parcells May Be Heading Home To NY...

(Jan. 8, 2006) -- With Ernie Accorsi retiring, the Giants' general manager search now looks like a reality version of All in the Family.

Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli rejected the chance to interview for the Giants' general manager job Monday, but his father-in-law, Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells, is a contender for it, according to a high-ranking NFL source.

It is, according to the source, a longshot. But there is a shot that Parcells could wind up leaving Dallas to finish up his NFL career as the general manager of the Giants, shopping for all of New York's groceries and teaming up with the Mara family once again.

The Giants have debated -- and are continuing to debate -- the merits of such a move. Parcells' future is one of the hottest mysteries in the NFL. He has offered little insight into what his thinking is, even around his current Cowboys assistants.

Bill Parcells won two Super Bowls while coaching the Giants from 1983-1990.
During a Monday morning meeting in which at least five Cowboys assistant coaches contracts are up, Parcells offered no direction about where he would be this season or even if he would be in Dallas. His coaches left the 45-minute meeting with no more answers than when they entered it.

Now the big questions, the ones likely to be answered first, involve Parcells. The Giants want their new general manager to yield heavy influence on the decision about whether or not to keep head coach Tom Coughlin. The decision on Coughlin is expected Friday or Monday, which means the Giants' decision on a GM is imminent.

Whether or not Parcells actually wants it might have no bearing on the leading candidate for it. The leading candidate is thought to be another member of the Giants' family, director of player personnel Jerry Reese, who at least three other teams have attempted to hire in recent years.

Where the Giants could be left scrambling is that Reese is on the Tennessee Titans' short list for successors to their former general manager, Floyd Reese (no relation). If the Giants lost Jerry Reese to Tennessee and failed to land Parcells from Dallas, then they could be left with their most unlikely option: They might be forced to turn to vice president-player evaluations Chris Mara, who is the brother of Giants president/CEO John Mara.