Insider addresses worrisome reason Giants may have kept Brian Daboll

It was reported even before the New York Giants completed a disastrous 2024 season that Giants co-owner John Mara could retain general manager Joe Schoen but fire head coach Brian Daboll. 

For a mailbag published on Wednesday, The Athletic's Dan Duggan suggested that one reason Mara ran it back with Daboll for another year is that the "Giants brass realized how undesirable the job would have been for top candidates when considering the poor state of the organization and the fact that the GM is hanging on by a thread" this winter. 

"All of those late-season reports about Daboll and Schoen not being a package deal didn’t originate from thin air," Duggan explained. "There have been reports about the Giants putting out feelers in the coaching market. I don’t know the specifics of those conversations, but if there were indications top potential targets wouldn’t be interested in the job, that could have helped spare Daboll." 

Specifically, Duggan mentioned how one-time AP Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel accepted the New England Patriots job and "immediately" took control. Per Chris Mason of MassLive, Vrabel "will have final say" regarding personnel decisions made by the Patriots after he took Ryan Cowden, former executive advisor to Schoen, from the Giants. According to Mason, Cowden will "serve as a No. 2 under" Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf. 

As for Daboll, he has posted a woeful 9-25 record since he guided the 2022 Giants to a road playoff win at the Minnesota Vikings in January 2023. He and Schoen nevertheless will have an opportunity to address New York's quarterback situation between the start of the new league year in March and the final day of the 2025 NFL Draft. 

"It’s hard to imagine they’ll be back for a fifth season without a major improvement in the team’s record," Duggan added about Schoen and Daboll. "That doesn’t necessarily mean a playoff berth, but the Giants will need to be in the race with at least eight or nine wins and a rookie quarterback leading their success to justify another year for this regime." 

Specifically, a Giants team that holds the third overall pick of the upcoming draft was recently linked with Colorado star quarterback Shedeur Sanders and with Kirk Cousins. Assuming the Falcons part ways with Cousins in March, he could serve as a bridge option and as a mentor for Sanders. 

However, Cousins may prefer to reunite with Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski. The Browns also need a 2025 Week 1 starter, and Cousins had Stefanski as his quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator when the two were with the Vikings in 2018 and 2019.