OL coach Rob Sale leaving NFL’s New York Giants to…

New York Giants offensive line coach Rob Sale is leaving to become the offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.

Sale heads back to the SEC and reunites with new Florida coach Billy Napier, who he worked with at Arizona State and Louisiana. Sale was his offensive coordinator/offensive line coach at UL-Lafayette, where they set all sorts of school records on offense in 2019 and finished ranked in 2020.

Napier was hired to replace Dan Mullen last month at Florida. He signed a seven-year deal and expressed plans to hire an “unprecedented” support staff.

It was only natural for Sale to fit into that plan. It just involved some patience.

The Giants’ season concluded with a sixth straight loss this past Sunday to Washington.

Sale leaves at a time when there is some uncertainty with the Giants coaching staff. New York (4-13) hasn’t yet made it official that coach Joe Judge will return for a third season.

Sale, who worked with Judge previously at Alabama, just finished his first NFL season. He dealt with a line that was devastated by injury early in the season.

Sale and Judge both declined to answer inquiries several weeks back about rumors surrounding a potential move to Florida.

The Giants hired Sale to replace Dave DeGuglielmo as their offensive line coach last offseason. They will now be looking for their fifth line coach in the past three years this offseason.

Sale, 42, was an offensive lineman at LSU from 1999 to 2002. He became a college coach for the first time from 2007-11, when he was a strength and conditioning assistant and analyst with Judge at Alabama. He then went on to coach the offensive line at McNeese State, Georgia, Louisiana Monroe, Arizona State and Lafayette.

He was asked recently if there was much of a difference coaching college and professional players.

“Nah, it’s all ball in my opinion,” Sale said. “It’s important to the players to invest in them as people, as persons. They all have the same issues no matter if you’re in college or the National Football League. We all have the same deals. You’ve still got the year-round plan that you have with these players getting them better over and over again and how you practice.

“One you pick your groceries and one you don’t.”

He will have some work to do in Florida. The Gators went 6-7 overall and 2-6 in the SEC this past season.