Is NY Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll Really on the Hot Seat?

The New York Giants have yet to play a regular season game, let alone finalize their 53-man roster, but that hasn’t stopped the critics from lighting a fire under head coach Brian Daboll’s seat.

CBS Sports’s Tyler Sullivan has Daboll as the head coach with the hottest seat (out of a list of five) entering 2025, even going so far as to predict that Daboll won’t be able to deliver the progress team co-owner John Mara wants to see.

“In the three years he's been on the job, the Giants are 18-32-1, and they're coming off a 3-14 season last year,” Sullivan wrote. 

He went on to acknowledge that the Giants were hamstrung by poor quarterback play over the last two seasons, noting that this year, the Giants appear to be in better shape at the position with Russell Wilson slotted in as the starter, Jameis Winston as the backup, and first-round draft pick Jaxson Dart waiting in the wings.

“Daboll's fate may rest on Dart, who impressed during the offseason program,” Sullivan said. “If Dart takes over at some point during the season and shows flashes, that could be enough to save Daboll.”

Sullivan goes on to state that Daboll and the Giants will “need to survive an early gauntlet” in which seven of their first 12 opponents were all postseason participants last year.

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Is Daboll’s seat really that hot?

There’s no doubt that Daboll is going to be expected to produce better results, but it needs to be stated that Mara, in his year-end press briefing, did not attach a win total nor a playoff mandate. And while wins are certainly a good indicator of a team’s progress, other considerations can indicate progress.

For instance, if the Giants are competitive against those 2024 playoff teams and don’t get blown out, that would undoubtedly be a step in the right direction. And if the Giants can address some of the other issues they have, such as drive-ending penalties and the run defense. 

While Mara would welcome the team’s return to the playoffs, there has to be a level of realism about the franchise. Simply put, it’s in a state of transition, particularly at quarterback, where Wilson, signed to one year, is the bridge option until Dart is ready. 

And speaking of Dart, it was Daboll who reportedly pounded the table for the former Ole Miss signal caller, and it’s been Daboll who has been knee-deep in helping to develop Dart as a pro quarterback.

Realistically speaking, there aren’t many people who believe the Giants are going to the postseason this year, though if they do make it back, it would be the cherry on the cake. 

But realistically speaking, the only way Daboll’s seat is as hot as Sullivan believes it to be is if the fourth-year head coach completely loses the locker room to the point where the on-field effort–something that helped Daboll survive the last two years–is no longer there.  

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