#Giants’ Thomas McGaughey sees ‘perfect’ special teams pairing with Joe Judge

Thomas McGaughey knows his way around special teams. At every one of his six NFL stops, he worked for a head coach who specialized in offense or defense. As he remains with the Giants, McGaughey, for the first time in his career, is paired with a coach, Joe Judge, with an NFL background almost exclusively steeped in special teams.

This is different and potentially could be a bit unsettling, with the expertise of the man in charge the same as what McGaughey brings to the team.

Or not.

“Joe is a football coach,’’ McGaughey said Tuesday. “He is not just a special teams coach. He is a football coach, he coaches it all. I’m a team guy. Whatever is going to be best for the team, we are going to do it, regardless of the situation.

“It’s like how do we want to do it, we want to do it this way, OK, boom, we’ll do it this way. It’s pretty easy.’’

McGaughey, 47, was with the Giants from 2007-10, working on Tom Coughlin’s staff. He was the special teams coordinator for the Jets, 49ers and Panthers before returning to the Giants in 2018, this time working for Pat Shurmur.

When Judge was hired, he interviewed then retained McGaughey, making Judge the third Giants coach to entrust McGaughey with a key staff position.

“It’s one of those things where it’s kind of a perfect marriage,’’ McGaughey said.

In 2018, McGaughey helped Aldrick Rosas develop into a Pro Bowl kicker and figured to have Rosas again this season. That will not happen, as the Giants released Rosas after he was charged with three misdemeanors out of a June 15 hit-and-run incident in California.

“I love Aldrick to death,’’ McGaughey said. “But it’s a new day, new opportunity. Aldrick’s going to be fine. He knows how I feel about him. It was disappointing.’’

The Giants signed Chandler Catanzaro, a 29-year-old kicker who has hit 83.8 percent of his field goals but suddenly retired last summer after struggling in the preseason with the Jets.

“He’s performed at a high level before,’’ McGaughey said. “We’re just hoping to get him back to that level. Hopefully we can get him rolling and get him up to par.’’

In 2018, McGaughey revealed he was going through treatment for cancer of the lymph nodes. The surgery in Houston and subsequent chemotherapy caused him to miss practice from time to time. When it came time to decide if he would continue to work during the coronavirus pandemic, McGaughey said he never hesitated, despite what certainly could be considered a compromised immune system.

“I do my best to keep my body in the best shape that I can, put the best things in my body,’’ McGaughey said. “I’m not really concerned about it. I’m not really worried about the health part. I just need to take care of myself. I can run into issues at home.’’

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The Giants signed OT Jackson Dennis (Holy Cross) and WR Cody White (Michigan State) and waived TE Kyle Markway and LB Mark McLaurin. There is an open roster spot for CB Ross Cockrell to fill when he passes through protocols.