New York Giants should pair GM Joe Schoen with head coach Brian Daboll

The New York Giants should look to their western NY Neighbors and see what’s working for them.

The New York Giants are again in the market for a new GM and Head Coach.

New York is conducting an extensive search of GM candidates, with the reported list now up to nine candidates now. Starting off the search is Joe Schoen, the Buffalo Bills’ Assistant GM.

Schoen was interviewed Wednesday morning by the New York Giants’ leadership brass of Owners John Mara and Steve Tisch along with Chris Mara.

Schoen has over 20 years in football scouting and held different front-office positions during his time in the NFL.

Schoen joined the Bills in 2017 which has since coincided with the team’s most successful run and stretch of playoff appearances since the late ’90s. The Bills have put together three consecutive  10+ win seasons which is also something they haven’t done in over 25 years.

Before working in Buffalo, Schoen worked with the Dolphins and spent his last four years there as the team’s Assistant Director of College Scouting. He first spent over 3 years on the road as a National Scout for Miami, often being in charge of and helping out directly in the team’s draft process.

Schoen has been lauded by NFL pundits as a good GM candidate. He has helped turn around one of the NFL’s worst franchises of the 2000s into an AFC force to be reckoned with that is well set up for both the immediate and long-term future. If Schoen can repeat even 75% of the success he’s had in Buffalo, he will be hailed a hero in New York Giants’ fandom.

Schoen and Brian Daboll would make an excellent GM and Head Coach pairing.

Daboll is a New York guy, who was born and raised in upstate Erie County. Daboll has been a winner almost everywhere he’s gone in his career. He won 5 Super Bowls holding various coaching positions in New England with the Patriots. Daboll started off as a Defensive Assistant before working up the ladders as a positions’ coach, working separate stints with the Patriots’ wide receivers and tight ends.

After leaving the Patriots in 2016, he joined the Alabama Crimson Tide for one year in 2017 as their Offensive Coordinator and QB Coach. He was a one-and-done at ‘Bama which was still plenty good enough to win a National Championship and a direct promotion as an NFL Offensive Coordinator.

Under Daboll’s watch, the Bills have taken off the last two seasons on offense. Daboll has guided and helped Josh Allen with his QB development and rise to stardom. The last two years, Buffalo has been No. 2 in points and No. 2 in yards in 2020 and then No. 3 in points and No. 5 in yards in 2021. Their offense fires on all cylinders and they have put up 40 points or more on the scoreboard eight times over the last three years.

Daboll orchestrates a dynamic and attacking offense that stays aggressive and finds ways to maximize each individual player’s talents and skillset. He uses presnap motion and deception to free up his offense and make the defense reveal itself, a win-win situation.

He routinely puts his teams in good and/or easy ways to score and gain chunks of yardage both downfield and gain more yards after the catch. He also uses trick plays in timely situations, further showing his boldness and confidence in his team’s ability to execute and catch teams off-guard.

The Bills have also been highly efficient at converting 3rd downs on offense, ranking 3rd in 2021 and 4th in 2020. Equally important, the Bills have capitalized in the red (or money) zone the last two years. They were 12th in 2020 before improving to 7th in the category in 2021. They were even #1 in 4th down conversion percentage in 2021, these are all things the NY Giants have struggled with for the better part of a decade.

Daboll has put together one of the top-5 passing attacks in the NFL. He’s watched Josh Allen blossom into a near-complete QB who is equally dangerous running and throwing. He has watched Dawson Knox emerge from obscurity into a prominent and key player.

The Bills’ offense isn’t supremely talented. They stick to their guns and their plans, and they find a way to get the job done. Daboll seems built for the moment and has interviewed for Head Coaching gigs in the past.

Pairing Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll would be a promising 1-2 duo as the new GM and head coach. Daboll’s offensive vision could fix a broken NY Giants’ offense and hopefully, get the best again out of Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley (if they’re both back).

Schoen is a young, innovative mind with an extensive history in scouting and being directly involved in the draft day and free agency operations. He has had a direct hand in one of the NFL’s biggest rises of any franchise over the last half-decade or longer.

Daboll has also been a huge reason for the team’s offensive success to start off the 2020 decade. He will undoubtedly get a shot to Head Coach an NFL team one day soon, if not next season. The NY Giants would be very wise to swoop up this duo and gain back a level of professionalism and credibility combined with modern-day and logical thinking that will get this franchise back to the place it needs to get to.