NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo and New York Giants legend/current NFL analyst Tiki Barber insisted earlier this offseason that Giants co-owner John Mara wants to "stick with" head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen despite the club's 6-11 2023 season.
Giants reporter Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com shared a different take on Thursday.
"Daboll is betting on himself as he enters a hot-seat year three and tries to bury last season’s 6-11 disaster," Slater said about Daboll taking offensive play-caller duties away from coordinator Mike Kafka. "A repeat of that mess surely would result in him getting turfed. Daboll, who has extensive play-calling experience, did call plays at times last season, pushing aside Kafka. But this time around, he’ll do it from Week 1 — and likely for the entire season. Surrendering play calling during the season would be an unexpected and stark admission of massive failure."
Daboll and Schoen were responsible for signing quarterback Daniel Jones in March 2023 to a four-year contract that the Giants could escape as soon as next offseason. Additionally, Slater noted that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick "looms as a possible replacement" for Daboll as Belichick plans to spend the upcoming season working as an analyst across multiple media gigs.
Belichick picked up his first two career Super Bowl rings serving as an assistant and later as defensive coordinator with the Giants from 1979-90. He's repeatedly been linked with Big Blue, and Patriots insider Ben Volin of The Boston Globe mentioned recently that the Giants could "be on the table for" Belichick come January 2025.
"Daboll will try to make this all work — and save his job — while overseeing an offense led by an uninspiring quarterback who will have to play behind perhaps yet another shaky line," Slater added while leaving little doubt he believes Mara could give Belichick a call if the Giants are viewed as postseason pretenders by the start of December.
Back in June, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports named Daboll as a hot-seat candidate and wrote that the coach is "charged with reviving Jones once more" with the 27-year-old coming off the torn ACL he suffered last November. If the Giants enter their Week 11 bye under .500, whispers about Daboll's long-term future will grow only louder regardless of Jones' play.
