Brian Daboll Reacts After Giants Captain Sounds Off on ‘Leadership’

Getty New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll responded to questions of "leadership" from defensive captain Xavier McKinney.

When it rains, it pours — and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll is trying to manage his way through a hurricane at the moment.

After a season-ending injury to quarterback Daniel Jones, the latest fire for Daboll to put out came from inside his own locker room. “I think that from a leadership standpoint, I don’t think they’ve done a great job of letting the leaders lead, and listening to the leaders and the captains,” Giants safety Xavier McKinney told ESPN’s Jordan Raanan after Week 9.

McKinney is one of 10 team captains that were voted on by teammates at the start of the 2023 season. Raanan clarified that “McKinney seemed to be talking about the coaching staff and/or team’s brass,” which falls under Daboll’s purview.

When asked about McKinney’s comments on NYG leadership the following morning on November 6, Daboll voiced that he feels “very comfortable” with the staff’s relationship with the locker room. “The meetings we have every week — which we have every Friday [and are] captains’ meetings — are good, productive meetings,” the Giants HC added.

Daboll also noted “good communication” and “good talk” while going through in-game situations.

Giants’ Xavier McKinney Explains Leadership Critiques

McKinney later went into detail on what he meant by his “leadership” comments.

“It was little things,” he told Raanan. “It was one of those things where you have some of your leaders, captains from a defensive standpoint, trying to switch things up. And just not really being heard.”

Based on his words, perhaps they apply more to defensive coordinator Wink Martindale than Daboll himself — but the coaching staff tends to fall under the same collective umbrella.

“I don’t know. There are other things too that we could’ve done,” McKinney acknowledged. “Like I said, the execution stuff could’ve been better. But when you got guys out there that are playing and seeing different things and are being vocal and communicating that with the coaches and whoever and are not being heard, it’s hard to go out there and be able to make plays and do things of that nature.”

Giants general manager Joe Schoen traded away one of McKinney’s fellow defensive captains last week — sending Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks.

Offensive captains Jones and Darren Waller are also unavailable, hitting the injured reserve, and Saquon Barkley and Andrew Thomas have missed time throughout the year as well. Hell, even special teams captain Graham Gano is done for the season.

Giants leaders are dropping like flies, and McKinney is one of the last remaining captains.

“At the end of the day, the guys that are actually between those lines, we’re still the ones that have to go out there and compete and play hard,” McKinney concluded. “We have to stick together. There is not going to be any breakage to the guys in this locker room… We’re going to keep playing and be vocal about the things that we see and hopefully we can make changes.”

Giants HC Brian Daboll Could Be on Hot Seat in 2024 if Struggles Continue

The Giants are now 5-13-1 since Daboll’s 7-2 start as NYG HC according to SNY’s Connor Hughes. Few are calling for the 2022 Coach of the Year’s job just yet, but that could change if he doesn’t get things turned around fast over the next year and a half of football.

A similar example is Matt Nagy.

With the Chicago Bears, Nagy won Coach of the Year during his inaugural 2018 season. Three years later, after the 2021 campaign, he was fired — and Nagy’s worst record with the Bears was 6-11.

The Giants are already in much worse shape, trending toward a top three draft pick in 2024.

And with either Tommy DeVito or Matt Barkley taking over at quarterback for the foreseeable future, that 2023 record will likely get worse before it gets better.