The New York Giants have a bad enough track record with letting players leave to pursue an opportunity with the Philadelphia Eagles, as Saquon Barkley's departure still lives rent-free in fans' heads. There's enough bad blood between the NFC East rivals, and things are about to get a lot messier.
Players like Barkley leaving for a division rival happen every once in a blue moon, but never before has that happened with a head coach. Now that the Giants have fired Brian Daboll, he's a popular OC candidate, and Dianna Russini reported the Eagles could hand Big Blue some Daboll-sized deja vu.
Now that the Eagles finally moved on from Kevin Patullo, they're in the market for a new play-caller, and they're swinging big. Russini reported that Daboll is one of the names atop Nick Sirianni's wishlist alongside ex-Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who is more likely to receive a head coaching job.
Brian Daboll would absolutely terrorize the Giants if he became the Eagles' new OC
Russini' report is unsurprisingly garnering support within the Eagles' fandom, which is in turn breaking Giants' fans hearts. Even though he was an unsuccessful head coach within the division, Inside the Iggles' Anthony Miller seems to be all aboard the Daboll hype train, and it's hard to blame him.
"[Brian Daboll] has already been in the local area since he coached out of New Jersey and has a ton of success coaching offenses. With no one else calling, Sirianni might be able to swoop him up and bring him to Philly to work on Jalen Hurts," Miller wrote.
Miller makes a strong point. Even though the 50-year-old's head coaching stint was a total disaster, he's still a great offensive mind. Daboll was the mastermind behind Josh Allen's development in Buffalo, and he also did good work with Jaxson Dart, who lit up the Eagles on primetime this season.
Miller's article also forgot to mention the minor connection between Daboll and Jalen Hurts. In 2017, Daboll was the OC and quarterbacks coach at Alabama while Hurts was the starting quarterback, so even though he was benched for Tua Tagovailoa in the title, the familiarity between them is still there.
The ex-Coach of the Year will have a surplus of talent at his disposal that he's never been equipped with. A reunion with Saquon, plus having A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Dallas Goedert is genuinely terrifying for Giants fans, especially since he'll come out with a vengeance against them.
Daboll is really good at knowing how to utilize a QB's mobility, as evidenced by his work with Allen and Dart, but he also likes to test defenses downfield, so he will likely employ a scheme that would be a better use of the Eagles' talent. But that's a low bar to clear after the nightmare that was Patullo.
If his offenses in New York are any indication, there's no telling what Dabes could accomplish with far superior weapons in Philly, and it's even scarier to know he's not as likely to one-year stopgap option as McDaniel would be.