January 8 was Black Monday at 1925 Giants Drive. The Giants fired Special Teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, O-line coach Bobby Johnson, Outside Linebacker coach Drew Wilkins, and Defensive Assistant Kevin Wilkins. Giants’ DC Wink Martindale resigned. Were they fall guys?
The moves weren’t surprising after the Giants finished 2023 with a disappointing 6-11 record. But here’s the thing. That poor record was apparently their fault, not HC Brian Daboll’s or GM Joe Schoen’s fault.
From where I stand, questions should be asked about Daboll and Schoen, and the biggest question is this: Are they the right guys to lead the Giants to prominence?
Schoen hasn’t hit the jackpot as the Giants general manager. Evan Neal and Kayvon Thibodeaux regressed rather than progressed this season. What’s more, I see Daboll is even more of a problem because I’m not convinced that he has the temperament to be an NFL head coach.
For one thing, Daboll likes to keep everything in-house, never ripping his players or coaches publicly. Yet, on game days, he screams at the players and his coaching staff like a lunatic. Then there’s this: Daboll and McGaughey never saw eye-to-eye going back to last season. It’s hard to believe because the Giants’ special teams have been competent, and yet McGaughey paid the price for everything that went wrong. That firing seems more personal rather than performance-based. McGaughey has been well-regarded for a long time as a special teams coach, serving two stints with the Giants. He must have done something right, especially when Tom Coughlin and Joe Judge thought of his work highly. So, it’s hard to believe McGaughey was a problem.
In addition, I’m troubled by Martindale’s resignation. No one will confuse the Giants’ current defense with the team’s Super Bowl championship defense. I get that. But the Giants’ defense was competent in the last two seasons, and players loved playing for him.
What’s up? It appears Daboll may be a hard coach to work for, and I’m not sure he commands respect and attention, and now he’ll have to sell a new DC to his players. Furthermore, the looming question is why any prospective coach would want to work for Daboll.
Daboll was supposed to be a buffer for the coordinators and players, but he hasn’t been successful in that role. He gets way too involved in coaches’ meetings, and he hasn’t found a way to get his players to respond to him. For example, his handling of Tommy DeVito was poor at best. As I’ve written previously, it’s almost like he didn’t want to have to deal with DeVito, preferring Tyrod Taylor and not wanting to have an off-season controversy with Daniel Jones.
Overall, I sense that Daboll seems to be a guy on a power trip, which (if accurate) is a horrible trait for a head coach. His job is placing guys in a position to succeed and collaborating with his coaches. Daboll failed to do either of those things this past season, and now Martindale may become the Eagles’ DC.
Does Brian Daboll have it in him to be a quality NFL head coach? I’m not sure he does. He’s stubborn in his beliefs, and that’s a poor way to approach a job that involves collaboration.
After a promising start with the team making the playoffs, Daboll’s coaching future in NY seems to be in jeopardy. He may be on the same trajectory as Ben McAdoo and Joe Judge–an initial promise that wasn’t sustained.
