The New York Giants have finally brought an end to the Brian Daboll era. On Monday, the Giants fired Daboll midway through his fourth season with the team after yet another fourth-quarter collapse, this time to the Chicago Bears.
What made the latest collapse that much worse is that rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart suffered a concussion in the second half. In that game, Daboll called a ton of designed runs for Dart, opening him up for hits.
Daboll's tenure ends with a 20-40-1 record. After a promising first season when he led the G-Men to the playoffs with a 9-7-1 record and coached them to a playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings, he went 11-33 the next three seasons. Despite the chances the 50-year-old had, including dumping Daniel Jones, who's thriving with the 8-2 Indianapolis Colts, the wins weren't arriving for Daboll.
Considering the ones he choked away, including in Chicago on Sunday, Big Blue decided enough was enough.
Now, ownership will have to begin their search for their fifth head coach since 2016. The coaching pool isn't as deep as it was a year ago, but there will be candidates that fans and media will focus on. But there are some the Giants should completely avoid. Here are four that stand out.
4 Brian Daboll replacements the Giants should avoid like the plague
Joe Brady, Bills OC
Back in 2022, Giants ownership decided they wanted to replicate the Buffalo Bills by hiring Joe Schoen, then an assistant general manager under Brandon Beane. Shortly after, Schoen hired Daboll, then the Bills' offensive coordinator, as head coach. After the first year, it appeared this duo was on the right track to build the Giants back into a contender. Then the next three seasons happened.
The last thing Giants fans want to see is the team hiring someone else with Bills connections. That includes offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
Yes, Brady has a history of building offensive powerhouses. There was his time as LSU passing game coordinator in 2019, where Joe Burrow had an incredible season, winning the Heisman Trophy and the CFP National Championship, all while going undefeated. Brady won the Broyles Award for best assistant coach in college football.
Brady made the jump to the NFL as the Carolina Panthers' offensive coordinator, but he was fired during the 2021 season as the team struggled. Brady has been with the Bills since 2022, first as quarterbacks coach. He would take over as offensive coordinator in 2023 after the team fired Ken Dorsey.
Buffalo's offense does rank among the best in the NFL since Brady took over as full-time offensive coordinator, but how much of that is due to the unicorn athlete playing under center in Josh Allen?
Sure, the numbers look good, but the last thing fans want to see is another Bills offensive coordinator get hired as the head coach.
Mike McCarthy, former Cowboys and Packers HC
There are some former NFL head coaches who will be in the coaching pool this offseason. One of the prominent names will be Mike McCarthy, the former head coach of the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.
Yes, McCarthy does have a Super Bowl title on his resume, but that happened back in the 2010 season. Since then, McCarthy has been unable to make it back to the big game. That includes two trips to the NFC Championship Game, one a crushing collapse against the Seattle Seahawks and the other a blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
After getting fired in 2018, McCarthy was hired by the Cowboys to be the head coach. After a rough first season, McCarthy led the Cowboys to three consecutive 12-win seasons. The result? One playoff win and three playoff losses.
Look, McCarthy does have the lengthy resume that may entice the Giants. Not to mention, he was a candidate for head coaching jobs earlier this year, including the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints. Ultimately, McCarthy is focusing on the 2026 cycle. The Giants should not consider McCarthy, considering his Super Bowl drought and his team's history of being undisciplined in terms of penalties.
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss HC
This will be a popular candidate among a section of the Giants' fanbase. Not to mention, a veteran NFL reporter floated this coach as a potential Daboll replacement. If the G-Men wanted to see Dart succeed at quarterback, why not hire his college coach at Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin? Well, there are reasons.
Dart thrived during his time playing for Kiffin, especially in his last season. In 2024, Dart threw for 4,279 yards, 29 touchdowns, and six interceptions on a 69.3 completion percentage. In his three years as the starter, Dart threw for 10,617 yards, 72 touchdowns, and 22 interceptions with a 65.7 completion percentage.
But college is a whole lot different than the NFL. Kiffin actually received a head coaching job in the NFL back in 2007 for the then-Oakland Raiders. He went 4-12 in his first full season with the Raiders, but got fired in 2008 after going 1-3 that year.
Kiffin has been a much better head coach at the collegiate level, especially at Ole Miss. But it's a rarity that college coaches succeed as NFL head coaches. Look no further than Matt Rhule, who made the jump from Baylor to the Carolina Panthers and was an abject disaster, resulting in him being fired midway through his third season.
It's more likely Kiffin ends up with a different head coaching job in college than in the NFL.
Bill Belichick, former Patriots HC
The most obvious name on this list is none other than eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick. Some may look at his success with the New England Patriots and say he'd be such a no-brainer of a hire. In some cases, yes, but you have to look at his record since not having Tom Brady as head coach.
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After Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, Belichick went 29-38 in four seasons at the helm. They made the playoffs once in 2021, where they were blown out by the Bills in the opening round. Belichick notably made personnel decisions, and they were far from great in the post-Brady era. Not to mention the subpar draft classes.
Oh, and let's not forget Belichick's coaching staff. Never forget that Belichick undermined Mac Jones' development by having Matt Patricia and Joe Judge (remember him, Giants fans?) to coach the offense, despite never doing so before. So that won't be a plus for Giants fans.
Finally, there's Belichick's disastrous college run at North Carolina. From being out of his depth at the college level to the drama surrounding his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. Do the Giants really want Belichick at this stage of his coaching career?
Belichick does have the Giants ties, dating back to his time as defensive coordinator in the 1980s. But the Giants must avoid Belichick at all costs.