The emotional embrace Brian Daboll shared with quarterback Jaxson Dart following the New York Giants’ Week 4 upset victory over the Los Angeles Chargers feels like a lifetime ago.
In reality, it hasn’t been two months since that happened.
That hug will go down as one of the final feel-good moments of the Daboll era in New York before it all came crashing down. The Giants fired Daboll on Monday, breaking up the Daboll-Dart partnership. From the moment the Giants traded up to draft the Ole Miss product, Daboll made it clear that Dart was his guy.
On their phone call following Dart’s selection, the two exchanged “I love you’s” before Daboll told the young QB, “I’m banking on you.”
“Smart man,” Dart told him.
After three straight losses to open the season with Russell Wilson at quarterback, Daboll made his big bet on Dart a reality. He benched Wilson and turned the team over to the rookie. Daboll made sure there was no confusion about whose call it was to make the switch, saying it was “my decision,” over and over again in his comments following the QB change.
Daboll’s bet paid off right away. Dart led the Giants to their first victory of the season in Week 4. What’s more, the rookie looked ready for the moment, leading the Giants on a nine-play, 89-yard opening drive that culminated in his 15-yard touchdown run. After the clock ticked down on their 21-18 win over the Chargers, the coach found his rookie and shared an emotional moment that, at the time, seemed to signal hope — for both Daboll and the franchise.
In the ensuing weeks, Daboll’s faith in Dart was validated, as the rookie proved to be a spark for the offense and a consistent bright spot for the organization.
The problem? Good as Dart was, it wasn’t enough. After what felt like a franchise-altering win against the Eagles in Week 6, the Giants haven’t won a game since. Daboll’s firing came on the heels of the team’s fourth-straight defeat, a 24-20 loss to the Bears that followed another fourth-quarter collapse and sent the spiraling Giants to 2-8 for a third straight season.
And just like that, Dart has lost his champion.
The coach who bet it all on him, who believed in him in a way few others did, is gone, and that makes the rookie’s future just a little less certain than it was a few days ago. Make no mistake, Dart is still likely the future of the franchise, but you can’t ignore the fact that the quarterback lost the guy who went to bat for him from that April draft day to the moment he made the quarterback switch.
Will the next coach feel the same way about Dart? Will he be as invested in Dart’s success as Daboll was? Of course, the next coach will want to win, but the answer to both of those questions is: probably not.
Yes, there’s the undeniable element of the hot seat Daboll entered the season on and the pressure he was facing to win following the 0-3 start to the season that helped hasten the change. The mishandling of Dart’s aggressive play style and the injury risk it posed is hard to exclude from that conversation, as well, with Dart entering concussion protocol four times since the preseason began.
Still, you’d be hard-pressed to say Daboll didn’t care about Dart. That emotional hug the two shared after that win over the Chargers encompassed everything at play that Sunday in September. But the coach’s investment in his quarterback was evident in plenty of everyday moments.
At the start of nearly every Giants practice since Dart took over the starting quarterback job, Daboll was never very far away from his rookie QB. With players lined up to stretch, Daboll was always sure to share a few smiles, a chat or just a pat on the back with the QB.
And when it came to preparation, Dart burned the midnight oil, calling his coach late one weeknight evening to chat red zone. As Daboll said the first week of Dart’s starting career, “I said, ‘Get some sleep. We’ll hit it in the morning.’ But he’s on it, and it’s all football for him.”
Dart’s done everything asked of him and more when it comes to the football side of the job. He’s completed 128 of 204 passes for 1,417 yards and 10 touchdowns in his seven starts. He’s also added 317 rushing yards on the ground to go with seven rushing touchdowns. The rookie’s decision-making and poise in the pocket have improved with each passing game. Dart has also handled the New York media market with ease as he learns what it means to be the face of the Giants.
Now the 22-year-old will be challenged in a new way, as he navigates the world that is an NFL coaching change. His maturity should help him get through it.
“I can only control what I can control, and I don’t want to look at things that way,” Dart said a couple of weeks ago when asked about feeling the pressure to help save jobs. “I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself in any regard. I want to just live in the moment that I have. I want to take advantage of the opportunities that I have. As a team, we should be thinking that same way. We have a chance to win every game that we have on our schedule. That’s how I feel.
“We’ve got to find a way, as players, the guys who are out there on the field, to make enough plays to win the game. That’s how I view things. The coaches, they call the plays, but a play can technically work against any defense or any coverage or whatever it is. The same thing goes on the defensive side. As players, we’ve got to be better. (Coaches) are not out there on the field. We are. Us, as a team, need to be better.”
The presence of Dart at QB should make the Giants’ job a more appealing opening for prospective head-coach candidates. But even with general manager Joe Schoen seemingly on track to stick around and lead the search for a new coach, change is coming for Dart, and that makes him more vulnerable than he was a week ago.
The quarterback will have to learn a whole new system under a coach who didn’t draft him. While Dart has done everything he can to show he belongs as the starter, the reality is this is still a Giants team that is 2-8. With seven games remaining, there’s a good chance they’re picking in the top 10 of the 2026 NFL Draft. Would the new coach have a different quarterback in mind to go after? Again, it’s unlikely but not impossible to rule out when thinking through the possible scenarios.
There’s also history to consider. Recent first-round quarterbacks who have been forced to play for two different head coaches in their first two seasons have had mixed results.
(Graphic provided by Scoop City’s Jacob Robinson)
As you can see, many of the QBs who have endured a coaching change so early in their careers don’t come away unscathed. Obviously, each quarterback is different, as were their circumstances, but it’s tough not to be at least a little pessimistic about Dart’s future when looking at this list.
That’s not to say there isn’t hope to be found here. New England’s Drake Maye and Chicago’s Caleb Williams are enjoying fine seasons despite their team’s respective coaching changes. And that’s what should encourage Giants fans. Dart should make New York more appealing, just as Williams did for Chicago, as the Bears landed Ben Johnson, one of the top coaching candidates of last year’s cycle.
What comes after that is anyone’s guess. Dart and Daboll quickly forged a strong relationship. Who’s to say Dart can’t do the same with the Giants’ next coach? Perhaps he will, and the next time a Giants coach and QB share an emotional embrace at midfield after a win, the good vibes won’t disappear so quickly.