When the New York Giants postthishead coaching opportunity, the waiting room should look like a town hall meeting.
That's how much potential is already on theGiants' roster that Brian Daboll is leaving behindafter his firing Monday.
Let's start with the old heads who are thirsting for another NFL head coaching job. North Carolina's Bill Belichick? He should want it. Former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy should, too. Ditto forKansas City Chiefsdefensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Heck, even Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores should want another chance at this one —despite the fact that he's actively suing the Giants(among others) after getting bypassed in the 2022 head coach hiring cycle. Why let a little thing like federal litigation get in the way of a potentially great thing?
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You can tack on the next-big-thing coordinators to the list of candidates interested in the Giants, too. From the offensive-minded guys like the Seattle Seahawks' Klint Kubiak and Buffalo Bills' Joe Brady, to defensive wizards like the Los Angeles Chargers' Jesse Minter and Green Bay Packers' Jeff Hafley. Actually, to save time, let's put it like this:Everyoneshould be interested in this Giants job.
That's not to say the franchise should cast an interview net that includes all these candidates — but it should have no shortage of high-end options, even if general manager Joe Schoen remains in place.
Consider why, starting with …
A young talent base on offense
Unlike many teams that fire their head coaches in the middle of a season, the Giants' roster is not deprived of young foundational talent. If anything, one of Daboll's most legitimate arguments against his own firing would be to point out that a number of his best players hadn't gotten to spend time together as a unit due to injuries. At Daboll's expense, there are going to be some good building blocks to work with for the next head coach — and they'll have gotten some solid experience this season.
It starts with quarterback Jaxson Dart,who will need the right fit in terms of his next offensive coaches. He has already shown a penchant for playmaking and leadership that has impressed Giants opponents. Around Dart, the Giants have the start of a good set of young skill position players, including a potentially elite wideout in Malik Nabers, a tight end in Theo Johnson who has been a bright spot this season, running back Cam Skattebo, and left tackle Andrew Thomas. That's quite a head start when it comes to a coach wanting to hit the ground running on offense.
Some elite pieces on defense
Across from that offense, there are some high-end assets to build around on defense — particularly up front. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II and edge rusher Brian Burns have All-Pro talent. Edge Kayvon Thibodeaux also has the tools to be a plus-level defensive piece, while rookie edge Abdul Carter is just scratching the surface of his talent. That's a disruptive quartet to build around, not to mention a wealth of depth at a premium edge position that could allow for creativity from the next staff. That wealth in the front seven also gives the next staff an opportunity to focus its build on the secondary in Year 1.
A modestly healthy salary cap outlook and good flexibility beyond 2026
The Giants' salary cap situation in 2026 isn't great, but it's not terrible, either. If the franchise can roll the roughly $4.8 million it has under the 2025 cap into 2026, it will give New York roughly $34 million of space next offseason. Right now, that would rank about 18th in the league. The Giants will be flush with space in 2027, although it's hard to know where that could fall, given the reality that the franchise could cut some players loose after 2026 and create even more space. The point being, the cap flexibility gives the Giants the ability to compete with other teams for free agents, rather than a coaching staff coming in and having both arms tied for a year or two (see: Sean Payton when he took over the Denver Broncos).
A recent trend toward patience from ownership
TheGiants were an absolute messfrom 2016-2021 when it came to hiring and firing head coaches, going through three mainstays (Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge) and one interim (Steve Spagnuolo) in that span. Daboll broke the spell, getting through three full seasons and 10 games into his fourth. In today's NFL, that's a solid amount of patience. Most coaches get at least two years. Three years is considered a very fair look. A fourth year, when you haven't had success since Year 1, is a little more hard to come by. That Giants ownership kept its powder dry until a third straight 2-8 start at least suggests the days of pulling out the rug quickly may be over.
Despite the hard times, it's still one of the NFL's cornerstone markets
The Giants job — even when it has had a lot of warts — is still in the league's biggest and most visible market. Even operating out of New Jersey, it's an attractive draw for coaches, players and personnel hires because of the lineage that comes with it. There's a reason Belichick was always rumored to have the Giants as his "back burner" team if he ever left the New England Patriots on his own terms. And it wasn't just because he was an assistant on the Bill Parcells Super Bowl teams. It's also because of the gravity of the job and the reality of what winning in New York means for not only the franchise and the city, but also for the league.
But, there is also some downside …
Of course, the job doesn't come without some knocks. It remains to be seen exactly what is going to happen with general manager Joe Schoen, who still has the confidence of ownership to at least put together the next head coaching search. There's already skepticism around the league about how deep the commitment will be for Schoen if a top-tier candidate comes in and says they want to be paired with their own GM. It could be a situation that has a resolution similar to what happened with the Jacksonville Jaguars, when general manager Trent Baalke ran the team's coaching search and then was eventually dispatched by ownership when it became clear that new head coach Liam Cohen preferred James Gladstone as his right-hand man in personnel. Whether that's the case with the Giants or not, it presents an interesting scenario that has yet to play out. It's worth noting that the Patriots retained their head of personnel, Eliot Wolf, after hiring head coach Mike Vrabel.That has been a fruitful partnership in the early going. The same could be said for the Broncos retaining general manager George Paton after hiring Sean Payton.
Aside from Schoen, the Giants are in an NFC East that is at the very least challenging. The Philadelphia Eagles are going to be a problem for years to come. The Dallas Cowboys are a roller coaster that kick up mini spurts of being competitive. And the Washington Commanders have a young star quarterback as their centerpiece in Jayden Daniels. At baseline, it's not a division where the next Giants coach can come in and expect to wipe the mat with the division rivals. And even inside the franchise, there's already some white-knuckling over the reckless abandon that Dart and Skattebo play with — leading to long-term injury concern — and the fact that Nabers has had significant injuries in both of his first two seasons.
But head coaching jobs don't come open when everything inside a franchise is perfect, and the Giants are no exception. Ultimately, it comes down to the breadth of control given to a head coach and the depth of talent he has to execute that control. The next Giants head coach should have an ample amount of both. And that's why everyone should be in on this opening.
When the New York Giants postthishead coaching opportunity, the waiting room should look like a town hall meeting. ...
