Giants Hire Bills OC Brian Daboll as Next Head Coach

For the past few weeks, all the sports talk of the town in the New York metropolitan area has centered around the “other” franchise located several hours north near the state’s border. The other franchise that has seemingly brought more memorable football to the state than the two major franchises holding its name while playing in another state’s borders combined. 

The Buffalo Bills captivated the local–and national–conversations when they embarked on another thrilling playoff run at the start of the month, culminating in their heartwrenching 42-36 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round last Sunday. Soon after the dust settled from a chaotic, debate-infused game, all eyes remained fixed on the franchise as it relates to organizational pieces moving to new destinations. The destination of importance, of course, the New York Giants. 

Following the conclusion of their abysmal 4-13 season, which marked their fifth consecutive double digit losing year, the Giants decided to completely clean house and press the restart button once again in their never ending quest to return to NFL prominence. Former general manager Dave Gettleman gave his retirement notice to the team at age 70 and after a four year stint that saw him finish with a 19-46 record and nothing to show for it but a depleted offensive line. Two losing seasons and a lot of phony press conference speeches later, Joe Judge–the culture guy–was relieved of his duties as Giants head coach, the third to be let go in a span of six years. 

Likely having watched the success of their cross-state neighbors unfold for the past few seasons, the Giants knew they wanted their own pieces of Bills’ glory in their buildings to rebuild the team for next season and beyond. That said, the team went out on their general manager search first and landed Bills’ assistant GM Joe Schoen to lead their front office. A few days later, they’ve now recruited one of Schoen’s partners from Orchard Park to pair up in the effort to revive the Giants in 2022. 

On Friday, the Giants hired Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to become their next head coach, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter and the team’s announcement. 

“My immediate goal is to assemble a coaching staff — a strong staff that emphasizes teaching and collaboration and making sure our players are put in the position to be their best and, ultimately, to win games,” Daboll said in a release. “That’s why all of us do this. To teach, to be successful, to develop talent, and to win.

“I have a pretty good idea where our fan base’s feelings are right now, and I get it. I promise we will work our tails off to put a team on the field that you will be proud to support and give us the results we all want.”

Those are the right choice words every Giants fan wants to hear from the new head coach, but they know not to get caught up in first impressions. Daboll becomes the fourth Giants head coach since 2016 and he will have to put his words into actions for a fan base that has thrice been deceived by his predecessors. Like Judge, Daboll has no prior head coaching experience, but he has spent time as an offensive coordinator in the college ranks at Alabama and in the NFL with Cleveland, Miami, Kansas City and recently Buffalo from 2018 to now. 

Those experiences building and calling team offenses, with the most recent unit having become incredibly successful, are what caught the eyes of Giants ownership who are desperate to jolt their nonexistent offense that averaged 15.2 points and barely above 300 yards of total offense this season. 

“Brian was the first candidate we met with when we began our search and as we continued our conversations, it was clear that his approach to coaching and team building was what we are looking for moving forward with our team,” Giants co-owners John Mara said. 

It also didn’t hurt Daboll’s case that he had the overwhelming support of his former Buffalo colleague and new front office partner Joe Schoen. 

“Over the last four years, I have observed first-hand Brian’s strengths as a leader – he is an excellent communicator, intelligent, innovative, and hard-working” Schoen said. “Brian’s genuine and engaging personality is refreshing.”

Before Schoen was hired as the Giants general manager last Friday, John Mara promised that the Giants would be giving the new general manager “carte blanche” power in leading the head coaching search, so long as ownership signs off on the final choice. During his introductory presser, Schoen emphasized the importance of aligning himself with the head coach, a statement that immediately turned the odds in favor of Daboll since Schoen too was coming over from Buffalo. 

Now with Daboll in place as the head coach, the duo are excited to bring over the fruits of their work in Buffalo and develop a vision for strengthening the Giants locker room and lifting the franchise out of the depths of despair it’s been stuck in for the last decade. 

“[Brian] fosters relationships with the players and coaches around him. He is progressive in his vision and values collaboration, two of the attributes we think are essential,” Schoen added. 

Daboll comes fresh off a head coaching market that was vying for him in all different directions. The offensive mind garnered a lot of interest for his work in scouting quarterback Josh Allen and turning the No. 7 pick in the 2018 draft into an absolute stud. Coming in a selection with a significant number of questions, Allen has bloomed into one of the most versatile quarterbacks in the league, completing 62.3% of his passes for 103 total touchdowns (31 rushing) and over 14,000 yards in just three seasons. Allen has also been named a Pro-Bowl player twice and led the Bills to a third playoff berth this year where they fell in the AFC Divisional Round to Kansas City in an overtime thriller. 

The Bills’ offense was also greatly transformed under Daboll’s leadership. Before he arrived late in 2017, Buffalo was a lackluster team chasing the New England Patriots while ranking 22nd in points, 31st in passing yards and 29th in total yards. Since 2018, Daboll has turned the offense into a top-five, championship caliber unit, that in 2021 finished third (29.8) in points, fifth (389.3) in yards per game, and seventh (5.9) in yards per play. The Bills’ offense was one of the hottest scoring teams in the league as well, finishing first in red zone scoring percentage (66.28%) and third in touchdowns per game (3.6). 

The Giants are hoping Daboll can reap the same results with their quarterback Daniel Jones, the centerpiece of their offense who is entering the fourth year of his rookie deal. Jones has struggled to remain healthy and consistent in his first three seasons, and now the Giants are stuck at a crossroads with what to do with their No. 6 pick in 2019. The Giants still believe he can play for them—with Mara saying the team has done “everything possible to screw this kid up”—and it will be up to Daboll and the front office to evaluate Jones’ future with the team in the upcoming year. 

Along with helping Schoen upgrade a talent ridden roster, particularly at the offensive line, and improving an offensive scheme lacking behind the points-heavy times, Daboll will need to adjust to coaching an entire roster. He needs a strong defensive coordinator to help him keep that unit in check, and the sense is Patrick Graham, who’s kept the Giants defense competent amid injuries and a terrible offense, will remain in the role so long as he doesn’t take a similar role somewhere else. 

Still, there is finally a new era of Giants football underway and the reception has been very positive. Concerns may linger on the lack of prior experience between the two new hires, particularly Daboll, but the proof is in the pudding that he can relieve some of the biggest offensive issues plaguing the Giants on that side of the ball for the last few seasons. The floor has already been established by the preceding hierarchy, so it would take a whole lot of failure—and similarly endless rants—for Daboll to become the next exile of the Giants endless rebuilding process going on for ten plus years. 

Let’s see where this goes. Hopefully it’s competing for an NFC East title and playoff berth for the first time since 2017 this upcoming season. 

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