Giants fire Brian Daboll, ending a turbulent four-year run that began with early promise

Days after acknowledging rumors about New York Giants ownership weighing his future, Brian Daboll is officially out as the team’s head coach, according to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones. After overseeing a fourth straight loss Sunday, in which his Giants squandered a 10-point third-quarter lead against the Chicago Bears, Daboll was dismissed on Monday. Assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will take over in an interim role.

Local media outlets recently circulated rumors about Daboll’s standing, suggesting Giants owner John Mara intended to fire the coach immediately following the Giants’ Week 7 loss to the Denver Broncos, in which New York lost an 18-point fourth-quarter lead to fall 33-32 on a walk-off field goal. Instead, Mara waited until just over halfway through Daboll’s fourth season at the helm of the organization to end the marriage.

Daboll, 50, went just 2-8 this season, dropping his career record as the Giants’ coach to 20-40-1.

Previously the Buffalo Bills‘ offensive coordinator, Daboll initially energized New York upon his hire in 2022, when he was fresh off a promising run alongside then-MVP candidate Josh Allen. His debut Giants campaign featured the rejuvenation of both quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley, who helped lead a surprise playoff appearance, as well as a wild-card upset of the Minnesota Vikings.

Things went downhill from there. Jones regressed as part of an injury-ravaged offense during Daboll’s second season, which was also plagued by maligned play-calling. Then the bottom fell out in 2024, when the Giants managed just a 3-14 record, even releasing Jones late in the year at the quarterback’s request. Despite the decline, both Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen received a surprise endorsement from Mara going into the 2025 campaign, totally overhauling the quarterback position this offseason.

Daboll was reportedly instrumental in the Giants’ first-round selection of Jaxson Dart this April, ushering the rookie signal-caller onto the field in September in place of veteran placeholder Russell Wilson. While they made some magic together, with Dart notably leading a prime-time upset of the rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6, the Ole Miss product also suffered multiple injuries while trying to elevate his coach’s attack.

Daboll is the fourth different head coach to be dismissed by the Giants in the last eight years. After longtime coach Tom Coughlin exited following the 2015 NFL season, New York employed Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge — none of whom lasted more than two seasons — before turning to Daboll. The entire quartet, including Daboll, combined for just two winning seasons.

Daboll’s failure to stop Dart from being reckless may have cost him 

Dart flashed enough promise that the first-round pick is the clear-cut centerpiece for the organization for the foreseeable future. 

That is, when he’s actually on the field. 

For all of his brilliance as a runner, Dart has been put into harm’s way far too many times, and the hits are starting to pile up. On Sunday, the Ole Miss product exited the game after suffering a concussion, seemingly in the third quarter. During a specific rush, Dart fumbled and appeared to hit his head hard on the turf, carrying the ball up the left sideline. He was slow to get up, but returned to the game. He was later checked out by the medical staff in between quarters, taken to the locker room, and ruled out in the fourth quarter. 

“Yeah. I just say it’s unfortunate he got hurt,” coach Daboll told reporters postgame on Sunday.

This was the fourth time this season (including preseason) that Dart has been evaluated for a concussion, per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan. Raanan also notes that Dart has been contacted the second-most of any quarterback since he was named the starter in Week 4, taking roughly 13 hits per game. That’s not sustainable, and the Giants are running the risk of breaking their young quarterback before he even gets off the ground. 

“Look, I’m not sure exactly the play that it happened,” Daboll said when asked if his play style is sustainable. “I’m just concerned for the kid.”

While Dart needs to take accountability on his own and limit his aggressiveness from carry to carry, it was also on Daboll to continue to implore him to slide so he can live to fight another down, and he may even need to tweak his play-calling to ensure that. That’s a tricky balancing act in more ways than one, however. Dart’s legs are a massive piece to his game and what makes him one of the most impactful young quarterbacks in the league. He’s now registered five consecutive games with a rushing touchdown, and his seven rushing scores on the season are tied for the most by a Giants quarterback all time. 

This aspect of Dart’s game cannot and should not be eliminated entirely, and, again, Dart will need to exercise caution when plays break down and he’s forced to scramble. However, it’s also going to be on Kafka and whoever the new coach is in 2026 to possibly pick his spots when deploying Dart on designed runs. Only one of Dart’s six rushing attempts on Sunday was a scramble. The other five were either a designed run for the quarterback or an RPO. All but one of those attempts were outside of the red zone, including one at the New York 47-yard line and another at the Chicago 44-yard line.