While the NFL's head coaching carousel is spinning with chaos, the New York Giants are watching from the sidelines. They were the first team of the offseason to hire a head coach, and after landing the extremely coveted John Harbaugh, Giants fans are sitting back, keeping their popcorn in hand.
Earlier this morning, the Buffalo Bills stunned the NFL world by firing Sean McDermott, which put the cherry on top of a chaotic coaching cycle. But instead of the Bills pursuing Harbaugh, The Athletic's Dianna Russini reported that they could be interested in hiring ex-Giants' head coach Brian Daboll.
Daboll is extremely close with Josh Allen and played a pivotal role in helping him develop into one of the best quarterbacks in the sport, so this isn't overly surprising. The 50-year-old could land in Buffalo as their new head coach or offensive coordinator, but either choice would end up working out.
Brian Daboll is a lead candidate to replace Sean McDermott as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills
Similar to how Andy Reid likes to recycle offensive assistants, this is a reunion that has been years in the making. Since Daboll's stint with the G-Men didn't exactly go according to plan, he is better suited as a lead OC candidate, but he could end up receiving a courtesy head coaching interview.
Daboll spent four seasons calling plays for Allen at the start of his career and is predominantly responsible for his rise to superstardom. He is a good play-caller and a great QB guru, so even though he's not head coach material, there's no doubt he's best suited to get the most out of an elite offense.
Not many were sold on the MVP signal-caller after the 2018 NFL Draft, but Daboll silenced those doubts. Just like how he set Jaxson Dart up for immediate success this past season, he did the same for Allen, but the only thing holding him back from being an all-time great is a lack of playoff success.
Daboll could return as OC for a defensive-minded head coach like Robert Saleh, but another scenario could be him working with Joe Brady if he's promoted to head coach. Both of them have worked with this offense enough to know how it thrives, but bringing in Daboll could mean Brady won't be retained.
There are a lot of options in terms of how the Bills can attack this head coaching search, but many of them start and end with reuniting with their beloved former coordinator, who's in high demand this offseason.