Dolphins Coaching Search: The Pros and Cons of Brian Daboll
As we approach the three-week mark of the Miami Dolphins firing head coach Brian Flores, reports suggest the team has narrowed its search for a replacement to three offensive assistants around the NFL.
And breaking it down further, it appears the leading candidate just might be Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who also happens to be among the leading candidates to become head coach for the New York Giants.
Now, we'll look at Daboll from the opposite viewpoint, and examine his pros and cons as a head coach candidate.
As the process continues, we'll spotlight the candidates and make the case why each would represent a good hire for the Dolphins — along with a reason or two why he wouldn't.
MAKING THE CASE FOR BRIAN DABOLL TO BECOME DOLPHINS HEAD COACH
-- Let's start with the obvious and just look at how the Buffalo Bills offense has evolved over the past four years after Daboll arrived as offensive coordinator in 2018. Buffalo has gone from 18th to 9th to 8th to first in the NFL in total yards over the past four years, and from 28th to 10th to 5th to first in points.
-- That all starts with quarterback Josh Allen, and Daboll deserves big-time credit for helping the 2018 first-round pick develop from a physically gifted but erratic passer as a rookie to an unquestionably, MVP-caliber quarterback starting in 2020.
-- Daboll has familiarity both with the Dolphins from his time as offensive coordinator under Tony Sparano in 2011 and with Tua Tagovailoa from their one year together at the University of Alabama in 2017.
-- Having spent time with not just the Dolphins and Bills, Daboll also has served as an assistant coach for both the New England Patriots and New York Jets, so he's obviously very familiar with the AFC East.
-- Daboll has been around the NFL for a while, having started his coaching career in 2000, so he won't be fazed by anything that'll come up as an NFL head coach.
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THE CASE AGAINST BRIAN DABOLL BECOMING DOLPHINS HEAD COACH
-- Daboll, like the past three Dolphins head coaches, would be the man in charge for the first time. That brings an element of unknown for any such candidate.
-- Here's perhaps the most obvious issue: How much of Allen's development can be directly attributed to Daboll? And would Allen's ridiculous physical gifts eventually led him to where he has arrived regardless of who had been working with him?
-- This relates to the previous point, and it's Daboll's lack of success in his previous stints as offensive coordinator when he wasn't working with an elite quarterback. Before his four years with the Bills and Josh Allen, Daboll worked as an OC four previous years with three different teams. He was OC with the Cleveland Browns in 2009-10 when his offenses finished 32nd and 29th in total yards working with QBs Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace and a then-35-year-old Jake Delhomme. With the Dolphins in 2011, the offense was 22nd in total yards with Chad Henne and Matt Moore. Finally, Daboll was OC with the Kansas City in 2012 and the Chiefs finished 24th in total yards with Matt Cassel and Quinn as the starting QBs.
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INSIDER THOUGHTS ON BRIAN DABOLL
Some quick thoughts from Nick Fierro, longtime NFL writer and publisher of SI Fan Nation sister site Bills Central:
"Look at where Allen was a couple of years ago, a project. Not a lot of people maybe would have agreed that the Bills should have drafted him in the first round, much less the No. 10 pick, 7 pick, whatever it was. But last year was the big turnaround. And I think the Bills kind of got lucky that people didn't get poached last year and it was a big part of his progression this year when you saw what he did in the playoffs, that he was able to have the same continuity going with the same coordinator again. But I don't think the Bills are going to get lucky again this time around. They're going to lose Daboll. I think Brian Daboll is going to be offered a job somewhere, if not two or three."
