Brian Daboll's most important project: Getting the most out of Daniel Jones
Daniel Jones of the New York Giants before the game against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium on November 28, 2021. Credit: Getty Images/Elsa
Brian Daboll said Daniel Jones’ name. Several times, in fact.
That’s a start. The last time the Giants hired a head coach, he refused to even utter the name of the presumed starting quarterback for months.
Maybe Daboll said Jones’ name out loud because the quarterback is one of the big reasons why he is here. Co-owner John Mara on Monday referenced "what he did with Josh Allen and that entire Buffalo offense" as one of the main appeals in naming Daboll the Giants’ head coach after four seasons as offensive coordinator for the Bills.
"That’s his job here," Mara said. "We have a quarterback here who we have a lot of confidence in but who has had some issues, mostly due to the way we handled him. A big part of Brian’s job is going to be to try to get the most out of Daniel and try to put us in a position where we can make a fair evaluation of him. We haven’t been able to do that so far because of the way we’ve handled him."
All of which should be good news for Jones. Mara said he would be surprised if Jones is not the starting quarterback in 2022, and neither Daboll nor new general manager Joe Schoen has said anything to the contrary.
But there is a downside for Jones. He basically has one season to prove himself or the Giants will move on. Mara said in no uncertain terms that Daboll and Schoen are not tied to Jones.
"Daniel will get a chance next year and we’ll hopefully be able to get a fair evaluation of him, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll go to plan B," Mara said. "But we have a lot of confidence it will work."
Daboll, for his part, was light on details regarding how he envisions Jones in the offense he’ll concoct. He was impressed that when he arrived at work on Saturday, after driving through a nor’easter from Buffalo to settle into his new office as soon as possible, Jones was in the weight room. The two had a conversation then.
"We’re not going to make any predictions," Daboll said. "I wouldn’t do that to Daniel or really any player. It’s not fair to compare him to another guy I was working with. We’re going to find out what he does well and try to get him in a system that suits him."
Daboll also made it clear that he does not have a secret formula or a magic spell that he used to develop Allen with the Bills. "It takes a lot to raise a quarterback, if you will," he said. "He’s been around the block these last few years with some different pieces. We’re going to try to give him some stability and take it from there."
Daboll and Schoen were not the only candidates intrigued by Jones.
"We did nine general manager interviews and six head coach interviews," Mara said. "Every single interview was positive about Daniel. They weren’t willing to say that he’ll be the next Patrick Mahomes or anything like that, but they were excited about the potential he has and the possibility of working with him. That to me was reassuring because that’s the way we feel as well."
They do now, at least.
A year from now?
That’s up to Jones.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
