John Harbaugh completes first head coach interview and it wasn't with the Giants

Mike Moraitis

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John Harbaugh completes first head coach interview and it wasn't with the Giants image

Former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has officially completed his first interview and it wasn't with the New York Giants.

Instead, it was with the Atlanta Falcons. The team announced it has interviewed the Super Bowl-winning head coach on Monday.

"We have interviewed John Harbaugh for our head coach opening," the Falcons announced.

The expectation was that Harbaugh would begin interviewing this week, and clearly that is the case.

It should be a busy week for Harbaugh, who is reportedly drawing interest from several teams.

We wouldn't read too much into Harbaugh interviewing with the Falcons first, but it does confirm that Atlanta is a competitor for the Giants.

According to CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, it is believed that the Falcons might be the top competitor to New York.

"Two sources on interested teams said their belief is Harbaugh's top choices among the vacant jobs are the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons in some order," Jones wrote. "Those sources added the Tennessee Titans are in third place, while a third, different source said there is real and mutual interest between Harbaugh and the Cleveland Browns...

While we know there is mutual interest between Harbaugh and the Giants, it isn't clear when exactly New York will interview him. But, given the fact that Atlanta has already spoken to him, the Giants will likely interview Harbaugh very soon.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that the Giants have already spoken to Harbaugh over the phone, and Harbaugh has done the same with the Titans, Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals.

Schefter called the calls "preliminary and extensive" and the goal is to "determine who to meet with later this week and into next week before making a decision," so those calls were not official interviews.

When the Giants do meet with Harbaugh, they have the ability to offer him the job right away, as they have already satisfied The Rooney Rule for their head coach search.

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