Kitchens among additions to Judge’s staff with N.Y. Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Recently fired Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens has been hired as the New York Giants tight end coach.

New coach Joe Judge announced his 20-member staff on Wednesday, retaining six men from Pat Shurmur’s staff and filling out other spots with veteran NFL coaches and five from the college ranks.

Judge previously announced that former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett would be his offensive coordinator and Patrick Graham would handle the defense. Thomas McGaughey was retained as the special teams coach.

Working with Garrett and Kitchens on the offensive side will be Jerry Schuplinski (quarterbacks), Burton Burns (running backs), Tyke Tolbert (wide receivers), Marc Colombo (offensive line), Ben Wilkerson (assistant offensive line), Derek Dooley (senior offensive assistant), Stephen Brown (offensive assistant) and Bobby Blick (offensive quality control).

Assisting Graham on defense will be Sean Spencer (defensive line), Kevin Sherrer (inside linebackers), Bret Bielema (outside linebackers/senior assistant), Jerome Henderson (defensive backs), Anthony Blevins (assistant defensive backs), Jody Wright (defensive assistant), and Mike Treier (defensive quality control).

Tom Quinn was retained as the assistant special teams coach.

McGaughey, Quinn, Blevins, Blick, Wilkerson and Tolbert were on the Giants’ coaching staff last year.

Judge worked with Bielema, Schuplinski, Burns and Sherrer either with the Patriots or at Alabama.

Kitchens was the Mississippi State running backs coach in 2004, when Judge was a senior at quarterback and special teams.

Colombo, Dooley and Brown worked with Garrett in Dallas.

Judge, who was the Patriots special teams coordinators and receivers coach before being hired by the Giants, said he wanted coaches who could teach and had a deep concern for their players.

“We had to find guys who can paint that mental picture for a player and find a way to tap into how they learn and get the most out of them,” the 38-year-old Judge said. “To me, it’s a big trust factor with the guys I have on the staff. I have a personal relationship with a lot of these guys, professional relationships with nearly all of them. Guys who I have not worked with directly, I’ve competed against, I’ve known for some time.”