Reports Friday night indicated that for Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll may want to bring Bills quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey to New York with him, presumably as the New York Giants' offensive coordinator.
Brian Daboll's time to be an an NFL head coach has arrived.
For that, he can thank the New York Giants, who made the move Friday night to hire the Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator as their next head coach.
Daboll, 46, is a West Seneca native and graduate of St. Francis High School who has called the offensive plays for his hometown team for the past four years – timing that dovetails with the arrival of quarterback Josh Allen. In that time, the two have helped build a powerhouse offense that has led the franchise to back-to-back AFC East titles.
Daboll's hiring by the Giants doesn't come as a major surprise, especially after New York hired former Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen to be their new general manager last week.
"We interviewed several people who are incredible coaches and all of whom are going to enjoy much more success in this league in their current positions and as a head coach," Schoen said Friday night in a statement released by the Giants. "With that said, we – me and ownership – all felt Brian is the right person to serve as our head coach. 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. Brian's genuine and engaging personality is refreshing. He 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. I am thrilled to partner with Brian and welcome he and his family to this side of the state."
The Giants likely wanted to move quickly to wrap up a deal with Daboll, given that coaching searches around the NFL are heating up.
According to a report Friday from NFL Network, the Miami Dolphins had formally requested a second interview with Daboll for their head-coaching job, making him a finalist along with 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel and Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Daboll was the "favorite" for the Miami job, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Instead, he'll join Schoen with the Giants, getting the job over former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who was also reported to be a strong candidate. Schoen also completed a second interview with Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier on Friday, according to multiple reports, but went with Daboll, who helped to develop Allen into one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL during their time together.
"It is an honor and a privilege to be named head coach of the New York Giants," Daboll said in a statement released by the team. "Thank you to Joe Schoen for believing in me and to John Mara and Steve Tisch and their families for entrusting me with this position. 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. 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."
The Giants have endured five straight losing seasons. Quarterback Daniel Jones, a 2019 first-round draft pick, is coming off a season-ending neck injury as he enters his fourth professional season. The Giants have to decide on Jones' fifth-year option this May. He has a 12-25 record as starter and has turned the ball over 49 times (29 interceptions, 20 lost fumbles), in 38 career games.
"We do feel Daniel can play," Giants co-owner John Mara said during Schoen's introductory news conference Wednesday. "We've done everything possible to screw this kid up."
It'll be on Daboll to straighten Jones out. Undoubtedly, the job Daboll did with Allen led him to this moment. Under Daboll, the Bills finished 30th in both total yards (298.6) and points (16.8) during Allen's rookie season, but showed some improvement the following season – jumping to 24th in yards (330.2) and 23rd in points (19.6) – before exploding the past two seasons. The Bills ranked second in both yards (396.4) and points (31.3) in 2020 and backed that up by finishing fifth in yards (381.9) and third in points (28.4) this past regular season.
Daboll was voted the Associated Press's NFL Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020 after the Bills finished 13-3 and ended the Patriots' streak of 11 consecutive division titles. Allen finished second in the NFL Most Valuable Player voting after setting single-season franchise records with 4,544 passing yards, 37 touchdown passes and 107.2 passer rating.
"Whatever happens in the coaching carousel of the NFL, you know, I think teams would be foolish not to offer Brian Daboll a job," Allen said Monday, a day after the Bills were eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs. "Praying they don't, because I want him back here, but I love him and his family too much to really think that. I think he's one of the best coaches in the league and I think whatever team gets him is going to be lucky. Whoever, whatever is in this building, I know we're going to go out and compete for each other."
The bond Daboll built with his players in Buffalo was exceptionally strong.
" 'Dabes' is my dawg, man, that is my dawg. I truly love him," Bills left tackle Dion Dawkins said this week. "I'm thankful for him. He's a real one. But you climb that ladder and you climb it for a reason. I'm thankful, I'm blessed for him to be able to even have the opportunity to move on. ... Wherever he ends up, it'll be a special gift from us to wherever the heck he goes. But we love 'Dabes' and we're thankful for him."
"That's the business side of this business. People get the opportunities to basically go up in this business, and that's what Coach Daboll got right now," running back Devin Singletary said. "What we'll be losing is a great offensive coordinator. Just a real dude – he's going to keep it real with his players. He's here for his players and he was big to our organization, to our union. So, it'll be a huge loss, if we were to lose him. I got much love for Coach Daboll."
Daboll, who grew up a Bills fan in the Super Bowl years, returned to his hometown after one year as the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama, where he helped the Crimson Tide to their 17th national championship. Prior to that, he had 20 years of NFL experience, including 11 seasons over two different stints with the New England Patriots, with whom he won five Super Bowl titles. Daboll also has worked as the New York Jets' quarterbacks coach (2007-08) and as the offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2009-10), Dolphins (2011) and Chiefs (2012).
"Coach 'Dabes' is incredible. Just the way he has confidence in us as players, and he's just a real dude," Bills tight end Dawson Knox said Monday. "I mean, you're never going to get kind of gray answers with him. You're never going to get him kind of dancing around the point. He's going to give it to you straight, whether it's good or bad. He's going to be real with you, and everyone loves him for who he is.
"Obviously, he's led this offense to be in an incredible position by the end of the season. I think that first playoff game this year was the first ever perfect offensive game in NFL history. That's a huge testament to him and the offense he's installed here over the last few years. So, if he does end up somewhere else, I wish him all the best. He deserves everything that he'll get and more. Obviously, selfishly, we want to keep him here. He's shown that he's an elite offensive coordinator, but if he does end up somewhere with a head coaching job, I think there wouldn't be a single person in this building that would wish something bad for him. Everyone loves 'Dabes.' Everyone wishes the best for him. So, we're excited for the future for him, whatever that might be."
The question now is, what do the Bills do to replace him? General manager Brandon Beane said Wednesday he has met with coach Sean McDermott to discuss plans if Daboll and/or Frazier depart.
"The rules are such that no matter what, you have to interview from the outside anyway for a coordinator position," Beane said. "So we would follow all of those. We have a list of some guys. We’re kind of in this wait-and-see mode because, at this point, Brian and Leslie are still in the interview mode and it’s hard, because we’re kind of like, 'Is he getting one or is he not?'
"We’re rooting for them both to get one. We really appreciate what they’ve done, but until it happens, we can’t start our process of interviewing for offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator. But yeah, we always want to look inside, too. We would want to look at what do we have, whether on the defensive side of the ball or the offensive side of the ball, what do we have on staff here that we think could handle Brian’s job or Leslie’s, and then who are the candidates out there that we’ve coached against, played against, whatever it is, and 'that system I really like, I wonder what it would be like, let me bring him in and pick his brain and see if he would be a fit.' So we’ll definitely look inside and look outside."
The leading in-house candidate figures to be Ken Dorsey, the team's current quarterbacks coach. He received a strong backing from Allen on Monday during the quarterback's season-ending news conference.
In Buffalo, Dorsey’s applied his expertise to Allen’s game.
“I think when he got here three years ago, my career definitely changed in terms of how I viewed the game of football,” Allen said. “I appreciate what he's done for me over the course of my career, so far."
The Bills may have competition for Dorsey's services, though, as reports Friday night indicated that Daboll may want to bring Dorsey to New York with him, presumably as the Giants' offensive coordinator.
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