Joseph Francis Judge (born December 31, 1981) is an American college and professional football coach who is currently a quarterbacks coach for the Ole Miss Rebels. Judge served as the head coach of the New York Giants from 2020 to 2021. Prior to joining the Giants, Judge served as an assistant coach for the Patriots from 2012 to 2019. The Patriots appeared in four Super Bowls, winning three of them, during Judge's tenure.
On February 6, 2018, it was reported that Judge was leaving the Patriots to join the Indianapolis Colts' new head coach Josh McDaniels in Indianapolis;[8] when McDaniels spurned the Colts and chose to stay with the Patriots, Judge made the same decision.[9][10] After wide receivers coach Chad O'Shea left New England to become offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins, Judge was tapped to fill O'Shea's role while continuing to serve as special teams coordinator;[11] according to ESPN, he was the only coach in the NFL with both special teams and wide receiver duties.[12] Judge won his third Super Bowl title when the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII.[13]
On January 8, 2020, Judge was hired to become the 21st head coach of the New York Giants[14] and paired with incumbent general manager Dave Gettleman, who had posted a 9-23 record (.281) with fired coach Pat Shurmur. According to Sports Illustrated's Rick Gosselin, Judge is only the second NFL head coach to have been hired directly from a special teams coaching job, after Frank Gansz.
At age 39 as a rookie head coach in 2020, Judge inherited a rebuilding Giants roster and navigated the team through a pandemic, the ripples of social unrest and a Week 2 season-ending injury to star running back Saquon Barkley[15] to post a 6-10 record and finish just shy of a playoff berth.
The Giants’ six wins, 3-5 home record, 4-2 NFC East record and second-place division finish all were the franchise’s best marks since 2016. The Giants won four straight games for the first time since 2016 in Judge's first season, beating Washington, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Seattle consecutively from Nov. 8-Dec. 6, including three out of four on the road.
It was the first time since the Giants’ 2011 Super Bowl season[16] that the team had won three straight road games in a single season.
Judge’s 2020 Giants also swept division foes Philadelphia, Dallas and Washington at home for the first time since 2005 and ended long droughts against their two top rivals. They snapped an eight-game franchise losing streak to the Eagles and a seven-game losing streak to the Cowboys that both dated back to 2016.
Judge's 23-19 win over the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Jan. 3, 2021, at the end of the 2020 season is still the franchise's most recent win over Dallas. The Giants organization is 0-9 against the Cowboys since.
The Giants’ 2020 defense ranked ninth in scoring (22.3 points per game allowed) and 12th in yards (349.3), which were dramatic improvements over 2019 as the NFL’s 30th ranked scoring defense (28.1 points per game) that had finished 25th in yards allowed (377.3).
The team's five games from Oct. 11-Nov. 8 (2-3) were decided by a total of 10 points, which set a new franchise record.
Judge also landed two cornerstone players and future captains for the franchise in his first NFL Draft: left tackle Andrew Thomas at No. 4 overall in the first round and safety Xavier McKinney at No. 36 at the top of the second round.
Thomas blossomed into a second-team All-Pro[17] in 2022. McKinney made five interceptions for the Giants in 2021 and became a first-team All-Pro safety[18] for the Green Bay Packers in 2024.
Off the field, Judge made sweeping improvements to the Giants franchise’s processes and internal operations.
In the spring and summer of 2020, when George Floyd’s police-related murder[19] ignited national frustration, conversation and social action, Judge’s Giants created a new Team of Teams initiative[20] to assign coaches and players to local community organizations to make a difference.
The Giants partnered with organizations focused on racial injustice, criminal justice reform, education and economic advancement, police-community relations and voter registration. They ranged from the Bronx Defenders to RISE, the New York City Police Foundation, My Sisters’ Place, Covenant House and more.
The initiative created a lasting impact that is still seen in the organization’s local partnerships and community work today.
In March 2021, two-time Super Bowl champion Giants quarterback Eli Manning gave Judge's Giants a vote of confidence, saying they were "heading in the right direction.[21]" The Giants started the 2021 season with a 4-7 record, but quarterback Daniel Jones sustained a second-ending neck injury in Week 12. The team finished 4-13. And Judge and Gettleman were fired at season's end.
Judge famously vented during an 11-minute postgame answer after a late-season loss to the Chicago Bears.[22]
Judge finished his tenure in New York with an overall record of 10–23 (.303).[23] He went 3-5 against the Eagles and Cowboys in two seasons with the Giants. All other Giants coaches from 2017 through November 2025 have a 2-26 combined record against the Eagles and Cowboys in that same span.
Judge, his coaching staff and the Giants’ players chipped in a franchise record $300,000[24] to spread among 70 members of the organization’s support staff for the holiday season during his second and final year running the team.
New England Patriots (second stint)
On February 8, 2022, the Patriots announced that Judge was hired as an offensive assistant.[25] On July 21, 2022, the Patriots announced that he would also be the quarterbacks coach.[26] Then he was named assistant head coach in 2023.
Under Judge’s guidance in 2023, Mac Jones finished with a 65.2 completion percentage, his second straight season with a pass completion of at least 65 percent. Jones, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow are the only players to accomplish that feat in their first two NFL seasons.
Ole Miss Rebels
In the spring of 2024, Judge joined Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels coaching staff as a senior analyst.[27] In the fall of 2024, he worked closely with quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was named first-team All-SEC while running one of the top offenses in the country. Dart then was selected No. 25 overall by Judge's former Giants team in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
In the summer of 2025, Ole Miss made a 'strong push[28]' to retain Judge after he interviewed for the head coaching vacancies at UMass, Temple and Southern Miss. Ole Miss created a new position and promoted Judge as assistant to quarterbacks coach to keep him on Kiffin's staff.[29]
In 2025, Judge again oversaw one of the nation's top offenses with Division II transfer Trinidad Chambliss thriving at quarterback. Austin Simmons started the season as Ole Miss' quarterback, but an ankle injury[30] hampered and sidelined Simmons after two starts. Chambliss took over and posted an 8-1 record while starting the next nine games leading into late November 2025.
Judge also helps Kiffin with game and clock management on gameday.
Personal life
Judge's father, Joseph, played football at Temple and professionally with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. Judge's wife, Amber, was an All-SEC soccer player at Mississippi State, and they have four children together.[31] Judge's son, Sean, plays college football at Ole Miss.[32]
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