Former New York Giants head coach Brian Dabol has quickly emerged as a candidate to replace Sean McDermott, fired Monday morning as coach of the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills shocked the NFL world and added
to a wild offseason when they fired McDermott. The move comes after the Bills suffered another heartbreaking loss in the playoffs, this time in the divisional round to the Denver Broncos
The Bills also quickly confirmed that general manager Brandon Beane would be retained and would lead the search for a new head coach. Beane, in fact, is being promoted to President of Football Operations and GM.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported shortly after the news of McDermott’s firing broke that executives around the NFL have consistently mentioned Daboll as a favorite for the Bills’ opening. She adds that Josh Allen still “loves” Daboll, and many around Buffalo share a similar sentiment.
The Bills’ offense played well with Daboll as offensive coordinator and Allen took significant strides in his development. Development, of course, isn’t Allen’s problem at the moment, rather a lack of real weapons around the reigning MVP.
The bigger question is whether the Bills could justify hiring Daboll just months after the way his tenure with the Giants ended. While Daboll may be beloved, it could be difficult to sell a coach who went 11-33 the last 2½ seasons to a fanbase that’s grown used to competing for conference championships and has Super Bowl expectations.
Daboll is also a candidate for the Tennessee Titans’ head coaching job, as well as for the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator opening. So the NFL might not hold his recent record against him as fiercely as Giants’ fans do.
