Getty New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll, formerly of the Buffalo Bills.
Since arriving in East Rutherford, Brian Daboll has been quick to pump the breaks on the Daniel Jones-Josh Allen comparisons — and rightfully so. While the two may offer up a somewhat similar skill set, Allen is an MVP caliber signal-caller with two divisional titles under his belt. As for Jones, the Duke product has just 12 victories to his name over his three-year NFL career and remains mostly a question mark entering 2022.
Still, Daboll and the Giants are expected to move forward with Jones as their starter next season, a plan that FS1’s Colin Cowherd believes could prove detrimental to Daboll’s ultimate tenure in New York.
“I think both [Daboll] and the new GM have a chance to succeed if they’re allowed to choose personnel. However, the Mara family wants Daniel Jones to work so Daboll will make him the best version of Daniel Jones he can,” Cowherd said, via The Volume.
Giants Urged to ‘Go Big’ to Find Answer Under Center
Cowherd continued on with his take, noting that while he’s a fan of Daboll as a coach, the Giants’ decision to stick with Jones at quarterback could lead towards the first-time head coach quickly fighting for his job.
“I think it’s obvious, we’ve seen multiple years, there’s a ceiling [with Jones]. It’s not nearly as high as we wish. Therefore by Year two, [the Giants] draft a rookie quarterback. Most of those are not nearly as good as predicted, some are busts. Daboll nonetheless will be asked to win with that rookie quarterback. And by Year 3 — in Year 2 for the quarterback and Year 3 for Daboll — he will need to win or he will be fired. Rinse and repeat for the Giants.”
As for how Daboll could solidify the quarterback position, Cowherd went in a quite obvious direction, once again banging the table for the G-Men to swing a deal for Russell Wilson.
“Go big. Call Seattle, make an offer they can’t refuse on Russell Wilson,” Cowherd said emphatically. “Look around the league, look who’s winning. Brian Daboll’s a good coach. The new GM, I don’t know much of but he comes from Buffalo and they have their act together. Coaches and GMs are paid to do their jobs, allow them to. If you want to win your division consistently you can’t have the third or fourth-best quarterback. Even if Brian Daboll makes Daniel Jones the best version of Daniel Jones, he was a reach at six, not very accurate, not a special athletic talent. [Daboll will] be as good as the freedom he has to choose his players.”
Giants Have Shown No Signs Of Wanting to Move Off Jones
First and foremost, Cowherd has headed the Russ-to-New York bandwagon for quite some time. In fact, he’s in many ways the architect of the rumor mill, floating the idea of Wilson eventually joining the Giants as far back as 2019.
Since then, there’s proven to be some fire behind that smoke, as NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported in December of 2021 that Wilson would “strongly consider” waiving his no-trade clause to suit up for the G-Men — a report that was quickly confirmed by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
With that said, the new regime in New York sounds very much committed to seeing the Jones experiment through. On the day Daboll was hired, ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky sent a tweet out noting that word around the league is that the former Bills coordinator “absolutely loves” the Giants starter.
Schoen went to the extent of publically backing Jones at his introductory press conference. proclaiming he’s “really excited to work with Daniel” and the team will “build an offense around Daniel to accentuate what he does best.”
Not to mention, Peter King of NBC Sports reported in late January that Schoen is bullish on repairing the Giants’ cap situation and is aiming to free up $40 million in cap space this offseason. Swinging a deal for a quarterback boasting an average salary of approximately $35 million per year through the 2023 season, albeit tantalizing, doesn’t exactly fit that prerogative.
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