Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll hired to be the Giants' new head coach
Brian Daboll was an offensive coordinator, on and off, since 2009. It wasn't until his work with Josh Allen that he finally became a hot name as a head-coaching candidate.
The New York Giants are banking on Daboll's success with the Buffalo Bills carrying over to their franchise. Daboll was hired as the Giants' next head coach on Friday, the team announced, replacing Joe Judge.
Got our guy.
— New York Giants (@Giants) January 28, 2022
Details: https://t.co/YOcYY6a1Kzpic.twitter.com/8kW8p4tEwU
Judge was fired earlier this month after two losing seasons.
Daboll hadn't had a ton of success as an NFL coordinator until Allen made a huge leap in the 2020 season. Part of that was Allen improving things that he was deficient at. The Giants hope Allen's emergence had a lot to do with Daboll, as well.
Brian Daboll has Patriots, Alabama ties
Daboll is, technically, another Bill Belichick assistant getting a head-coaching job. Daboll was a Patriots assistant from 2000-06, working the last five seasons as receivers coach. He came back to the Patriots from 2013-16, with the final three seasons as tight ends coach.
Daboll started to have a breakthrough in 2017, when he got a shot to be Nick Saban's offense coordinator at Alabama. The Crimson Tide used Jalen Hurts to get to the national championship game that season, then Tua Tagovailoa took over at halftime of the CFP title game and led an overtime win over Georgia.
That one season in Alabama led to Daboll becoming the Bills' offensive coordinator. His first two seasons, the Bills ranked 30th and 24th in total offense. That spiked to second and fifth the past two seasons, as Allen emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Daboll's final game with the Bills was a loss, but it was an incredible offensive performance in a 42-36 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Daboll had four seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator before Buffalo, with the Browns, Dolphins and Chiefs. His offenses never ranked better than 22nd. But as he embraced the pass-happy modern game with the Bills, and Allen developed into a star under his watch, his reputation grew as well.
Giants haven't had recent success
It's hard to pitch Daniel Jones as the next Allen-level success story for Daboll. But getting the most out of Jones will presumably be Daboll's first big job with the Giants.
Jones, like Allen, was a top-10 pick. He has had some promising moments but mostly his first three seasons hasn't gone great. Injuries, to Jones and the players around him, haven't helped.
While the Giants have the reputation as one of the NFL's top franchises, that hasn't been the case recently. Since winning a Super Bowl at the end of the 2011 season, the Giants have missed the postseason nine of the past 10 seasons. They have not won a playoff game in that time. Three straight coaches — Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Judge — didn't make it to a third season.
The Giants need a talent infusion. That will happen on the front-office level. Daboll's job is to get the most out of what talent he is given. The last three coaches weren't able to do that, and the Giants are hoping Daboll's tenure ends up much better.