Brian Daboll, the Giants’ incoming head coach, already has been in contact with Daniel Jones, and says his relationship with the fourth-year quarterback will be “critical” to the team’s success.
In his first interview since being named as fired Joe Judge’s successor on Friday by new GM Joe Schoen — his co-worker with the Bills — the former Buffalo offensive coordinator talked with radio voice Bob Papa in a video posted Sunday on the Giants’ website.
“Relationships, they’re foundations here,” the 46-year-old Daboll said when asked about Jones. “Not just with the quarterback, I’d say with all the players, getting to know them, what their strengths and weaknesses are. But getting to know them outside the building, what makes them tick.
Brian Daboll New York Giants“Quarterback is a tough position to play. [Jones has] had a fair amount of coaches here in his first few years and some different schemes, but the first thing I want to do is to get to know him as a person and find out what makes him tick. And then we’ll do everything we can do to put the pieces around him and design an offense that’s suited to his strengths. … Long road ahead, but he seems like a good young man.”
Daboll has spent the past four seasons as head coach Sean McDermott’s offensive coordinator, working closely with another mobile quarterback, emerging star quarterback Josh Allen. He also has served during his coaching career as an assistant coach under Bill Belichick in two stints in New England and for one season (2017) as offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama, winning a national championship.
Daboll was chosen over a group of candidates that also included former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and others.
“There’s been a lot of [emotions] and obviously excitement,” Daboll said. “You put a lot of hard work and effort into your craft, and 21 years in the making for this opportunity, a historic franchise, great ownership, and Joe coming in and getting hired as the general manager, it’s just a great honor and a great privilege, and I’m looking forward to getting to work.”
As for his relationship with Schoen, the former Bills assistant GM, Daboll said he believes “alignment is very important” for the two men, who already have a strong working relationship.
“The last few years [with Buffalo], I got to see that firsthand, with [GM] Brandon [Beane] and [head coach] Sean [McDermott],” Daboll said. “If you put people in a leadership position and make sure that they’re aligned and have a proper plan and then surround them with good people, you have a chance.”
“It’s not easy to win in this league, we all know that. It’s very challenging. But to try to go through and make sure you’re doing the right things and put your team in the right position, I think alignment is critical.”
Asked what traits he expects his team and coaching staff to possess, Daboll replied, “Smart tough, dependable. We’re gonna have to do a good job of bringing in the right kind of people. Again, it’s a challenging process to make sure that you’re putting together a team that’s competitive week in and week out. We have a lot of work ahead of us to do.”
The Giants are coming off a 4-13 campaign, making it five consecutive seasons with at least 10 losses and nine of 10 without a playoff berth since their latest Super Bowl victory in the 2011-12 season.
Still, Daboll said he couldn’t help but notice the four Lombardi Trophies as he was walking through the team’s practice facility.
“What a humbling experience,” he said. “You walk through those doors for the first time and that’s what we all aspire to be. I have been fortunate to be around some teams that have won some, and to walk into these halls, this is a historic franchise.
“There’s so many people that have been through these halls and have played this game for this team. I understand the task. We have a lot of work to do. It’s not just going to be myself or Joe. We’re going to really collaborate with the people in the building, treat people with respect and try to gain that respect. Once you can do that, everybody is accountable to one another. But, yeah, it was awesome.”
