Brian Daboll was always on borrowed time as head coach of the New York Giants. After a string of lackluster seasons, he was given what was clearly a final chance to prove darkness was giving way to dawn. Do that, it seemed, and he might just stick around for the sunrise.
Even after an ugly start with Russell Wilson and the season-long loss of Malik Nabers, the Giants captured fans’ imaginations thanks to rookies Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo playing fearless, bombastic football. For a moment, the G Men were upsetting the defending champs, winning consistently on both sides of the ball, and talking and walking like a team reborn. It was easy to see a world where Dart, Skattebo and Nabers formed the long-term offensive core, and a budding defense rounded into form to make the team a serious contender for the next half-decade.
But then Skattebo was lost for the season, the winning stopped, and the collapses started. Once Dart left New York’s most recent game with a concussion and the Giants fell to the Bears, night had fallen once again. Daboll was quickly fired, and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka temporarily took the reins. General Manager Joe Schoen, interestingly, is still around (more on that in a moment).
With Daboll out and the present lost, the question becomes: who will be the next man charged with bringing in a brighter tomorrow? On the latest episode of “The Athletic Football Show,” we take a look at the state of the Giants and whether the New York gig is attractive to in-demand coaches.
There’s plenty to like, according to The Athletic’s Robert Mays, including the fact that New York is ready to settle into a long-term relationship.
“I think you have an organization that desperately wants to be patient. Desperately wants to be patient. I’m sure it pains them so much to be doing this now,” he says. “If they could give a guy six, seven, eight years to see this next thing through because there’s a level of confidence, I’m sure they would love that.”
Unlike other destinations, whoever signs on to coach the Giants will also inherit a lot of talent, including at most of the positions that commonly undo rebuilds. Jaxson Dart is a fan favorite, and while there are still big holes in his game and a possibly limited ceiling, he’s already shown he can win in the NFL. Whether he can develop as much or as fast as Drake Maye or Bo Nix is unclear, but he has demonstrated to prospective coaches that he won’t be their undoing. While that’s the biggest box the Giants have checked, it’s far from the only one.
“They have real players at some of the premium positions that are hardest to find. They have a borderline All-Pro left tackle when he’s healthy (Andrew Thomas), who’s played at an extremely high level since he came back this year. You have a really, really talented receiver (Nabers) who has a torn ACL right now that will be coming back. You have multiple pass rushers,” Mays says. “Like, you have three potential building blocks on the defensive line with Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns.”
It has the makings of an exciting future, made more so by future cap flexibility. Currently, the Giants are saddled with several bloated contracts, most of which are the product of having to make up for poor drafting.
Schoen may be responsible for acquiring a lot of this young talent, but he also had a lot of big misses early in drafts. That, coupled with letting a lot of talent leave town, meant he had several critical holes to fill and only one way to do it. The result was a series of gotta-make-sure-we-get-him contracts to free agents, clogging up the books through next season.
“By the time we get to like 2027, you kind of have a blank slate financially,” Mays explains. “When you get there, this is a team with a lot of financial flexibility, and most of those pillars that we’re talking about are still under contract. So I do think, on a bunch of different levels, this could be an attractive job in this cycle compared to some of the other ones that will come up.”
Of course, when 2027 comes, there’s every likelihood Schoen will still be around. It’s exciting for a new coach to be able to see the end of the tunnel, but it’s less exciting if the guy who built the tunnel is still in charge.
Anyone taking the job will already be locked into a relationship with Dart. Adding a forced partnership with a shaky GM may be one arranged marriage too many for some candidates. But while Schoen’s missteps might not inspire confidence, they can also provide an opening for the new head coach to exert more influence on Day 1.
“I think you have an arranged marriage with a GM that I can’t imagine holds a ton of power in that building,” Mays says. “It kind of reminds me of the Bears’ situation, where Ben Johnson has a lot of say in what is going on there and the players being picked and all of that, because it hasn’t necessarily been a rousing success with the general manager. So I think the power dynamics are potentially in your favor.”
Click here to listen to the full episode.