Giants Country

Ex-Giants Defensive End Believes Brian Daboll is “Toast” 

Chris Canty thinks QB Daniel Jones has a better chance of being back next season than Brian Daboll.

Patricia Traina

Sep 26, 2024; East Rutherford, NJ, US; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll enters the field prior to the start of the game at MetLife Stadium.
Sep 26, 2024; East Rutherford, NJ, US; New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll enters the field prior to the start of the game at MetLife Stadium. / Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Former NFL defensive lineman Chris Canty, who spent the 2009-2012 seasons with the New York Giants, believes that the future of Giants head coach Brian Daboll is bleak.

Cany, now an analyst for ESPN, said during an appearance on the network’s Get Up program that Daboll, whose Giants are off to a 1-3 start this season, is “toast.”   

“He’s done. He’s toast. He’s the biggest loser coming out of last night (Thursday),” Canty said. “He’s about to lose his damn job in season. That’s what’s going to happen. ...

“He is giving the Giants’ brass ammunition to move on from him after this season. ... Daniel Jones has a better chance of being back next year than Brian Daboll does.”

Canty is certainly entitled to his opinion, and that’s what he’s being paid to deliver. But how about we pump the brakes here on such a bold take?

Yes, Daboll has taken on the playcalling duties, and the offense is averaging less (15 points per game) than it was last year (15.6 points per game).

And yes, Daboll developed a reputation last year as a hothead who couldn’t get along with staff members, a development that even prompted team co-owner John Mara to express that he wished Daboll would tone down his sideline outbursts. 

But this year, Daboll’s in-game demeanor seems calmer and more focused now that he’s back to calling plays on offense. There have been no hints of any strife so far this year between Daboll and his staff.

The quarterback situation, though, is quite a different story. The Giants are still slogging their way through seasons with Daniel Jones, their 2019 first-round pick who has yet to live up to his draft pedigree.

It’s true that the team didn’t do much to help Jones in the past, but this year, the Giants have finally set up the supporting cast around Jones to achieve success. 

Yet Jones continues to struggle with hitting receivers on the long ball and in stride, an issue that goes back to the start of training camp when the hope was that he was just rusty from having such a long layoff following his ACL injury.

That seemingly “perpetual” rustiness was again displayed in the team’s Week 4 game against the Cowboys.

“Yeah, I just thought he underthrew a couple,” Daboll admitted. “One was the snap. He threw it up there. Both of them, he didn't put enough into it. So, we'll just keep working on it.”

There is also the issue of Jones locking in on his receivers front the moment the ball is snapped, which allows opposing defenders to read his eyes and get into position to make a play. 

Perhaps the most glaring statement from the game was on the 4th-and-3 play at the Cowboys' 3-yard line in the third quarter.

Down 14-9 at the time, Daboll, instead of going for it, decided to kick the field goal because Daboll decided to kick a field goal rather than go for it because “we were going to go for points on that one.”

The Giants seriously flirted with replacing Jones in the draft this offseason via the draft. When that wasn’t possible due to the Patriots’ unwillingness to swap places with the Giants in the draft order, New York pivoted to Malik Nabers, who has added a spark to the offense.

That the Giants were so open and willing to let that storyline play out on Hard Knocks tells you all you need to know about who the odd man out will be next year if the season continues to head south.

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for over three decades for various media outlets. She is the host of the Locked On Giants podcast and the author of "The Big 50: New York Giants: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants" (Triumph Books, September 2020). View Patricia's full bio.

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