The Giants have parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll, a source confirmed to Sports Illustrated on Monday. While the news did not feel all that surprising—Daboll posted a winning season in his first season with the Giants, won coach of the year and subsequently won six and three games in the following years—the surprise was in the optics.
The Giants abhor the appearance of impatience and staved off as long as they could the possibility of firing Ben McAdoo (in-season), Joe Judge (in-season) and Pat Shurmur (immediately after the season), all after or in fewer than two full years on the job. Daboll was supposed to be, and received the runway to be, the team’s long-term option at head coach, stabilizing the franchise in a way it had not been since the tenure of Tom Coughlin.
What changed? The Giants dropped four games this season in which the team possessed healthy 10-point leads late in the games. Jaxson Dart, while on track to contend with Emeka Egbuka and Tyler Warren for Offensive Rookie of the Year, was also taking hits that caused him to regularly get checked for concussions and eventually was removed from a game Sunday with a concussion after a designed run play.
Here are a few quick thoughts on the firing:
Why coaching the Giants is a great job
• This is a great job. Not a good job, a great job. The incoming head coach of this team has a talented quarterback with upside and four years remaining on a rookie contract. He will have Malik Nabers for at least another year before he’s extension eligible, a stalwart left tackle (Andrew Thomas) and a defense with a lot of potential, including the No. 3 pick from the 2025 class, Abdul Carter. As it’s shaping up right now, I would imagine this will be the top opening this offseason, assuming that we have turnover at the places that we’re heavily favoring as likely to change.
• The larger item here is that general manager Joe Schoen will get to pick the next coach. Schoen and Daboll came into East Rutherford together, and Schoen will survive for at least one more tenure. There were some rumblings during last year’s cycle that Schoen was open to exploring other candidates, though the Giants eventually came out in full support of both Schoen and Daboll at season’s end.
• I am circling with a big red marker the Bills’ post-Christmas tilt against the Eagles—a team that Daboll has played twice this season. Before joining the Giants, Daboll was Josh Allen’s offensive coordinator in Buffalo. Amid the Bills’ stalling of late, I wonder whether Daboll will remain in the New York region and rejoin the Bills in some capacity. While Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady is also a rising coaching candidate, his arc could go either way as the team attempts to find its footing. Daboll could be a worthy in-house replacement for Brady if he takes a head coaching job in 2026, or in ’25 if Brady needs to take a step back.
Now, here is a list of top replacement candidates. Keep in mind, the Giants are an organization that likes some degree of familiarity. So, there will be coaches on this list that you may not see on other top candidate lists (like my list of Titans candidates).
Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator, Denver Broncos
I would not be surprised to see the Giants turn to an experienced candidate after hiring inexperienced head coaches in McAdoo (first-timer), Shurmur (who had two years as the Browns’ coach), Joe Judge (first-timer) and Daboll (first-timer). Joseph has been a successful and innovative defensive coordinator throughout his career. Still, his lone shot at a head coaching gig came with the post–Peyton Manning Broncos, who were a quarterback-less mish-mosh of veteran players hanging on after the Super Bowl. The Broncos lead the NFL in pressure rate, of interest to a team that has three blueblood pass rushers under contract.
Joseph, who has a deep résumé, including recent experience regularly facing the best offenses in the NFL (in Arizona, where he was an innovator in shutting down some of the early Sean McVay schemes and now in Denver against Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes), could provide some. He was also an assistant in Miami while Schoen was there.
Chris Shula, defensive coordinator, Los Angeles Rams
Shula has taken the job from Raheem Morris and run with an incredible opportunity. Most notable for the Giants would be Shula’s ability to effectively maneuver versatile chess pieces up front, much like he has been doing for a unit that is pressuring the quarterback at a significantly better rate than the Giants. Shula is the nephew of former Giants offensive coordinator Mike Shula, and the Maras and Shulas have obvious ties as entrenched football families.
Brian Flores, defensive coordinator, Minnesota Vikings
While Flores’s interview with the Giants last formed the foundation of a complex lawsuit involving allegations of predetermination and favoritism, much of what I know about owner John Mara’s hiring process involves a kind of ever-constant list of viable coaching candidates. If Flores was a candidate in the past, he has done nothing to alter his résumé after putting together dominant defenses in Minnesota that made up the basis of a 14-win team a year ago. Flores is a player favorite in Minnesota who has crafted one of the league’s more sustainable player-run defenses.
Marcus Freeman, head coach, Notre Dame
The following two candidates reflect the Giants’ deep collegiate ties and spotlight where the organization may be leaning by default. Freeman, 39, is a highly polished, defensive-minded head coach who reached the inaugural expanded College Football Playoff final. The Giants’ staff has had an undercurrent of Notre Dame influence. Tim McDonnell, the team’s director of player personnel, was with the Fighting Irish for eight seasons before coming to the Giants, as an example. Freeman brings experience not only innovating on the defensive side of the ball, but also in curating one of the strongest football brands in the world. Sources inside the coaching industry believe the tide will turn on collegiate coaches in the upcoming cycle.
Jeff Hafley, defensive coordinator, Green Bay Packers
Perhaps more than Notre Dame, the Giants are a Boston College organization. Many of the team’s staffers are associated with, played for or graduated from B.C. Hafley had the organization on solid ground with a winning season in his final year and a Fenway Bowl victory before leaving for the NFL. Hafley is a New Jersey native, having grown up about 30 minutes north of the team’s facility in Montvale, N.J. He currently has pass rusher Micah Parsons in the running for Defensive Player of the Year.
Steve Spagnuolo, defensive coordinator, Kansas City Chiefs
Spagnuolo is a beloved longtime Giants coordinator who served as a Super Bowl–winning coordinator and as an interim head coach for the organization. He previously had one head coaching stop with the St. Louis Rams before becoming best known as arguably the best postseason defensive coordinator ever, winning three Super Bowl championships with the Chiefs. Spagnuolo would represent a comfort zone pick for the Giants after branching outside of the family in each of the past few hires.
Davis Webb, offensive coordinator, Denver Broncos
Only 30, Webb would be the youngest head coach in NFL history. A 2017 draft pick of the organization, Webb has fast become a rising star on Sean Payton’s staff in Denver and has been instrumental in the development of Bo Nix. The franchise knows him well despite Webb having been there for just one season. Webb had his longest NFL stint with the Bills, who were, at the time, the employer of Schoen as an assistant GM.
Antonio Pierce, former head coach, Las Vegas Raiders
Pierce didn’t get much of a puncher’s chance with the Raiders, but he is a former Super Bowl–winning linebacker of the Giants who had Tom Coughlin on staff in Las Vegas as an advisor. The 47-year-old is a critical piece of the organization's history and is admired by ownership. Pierce showed some talent as a head coach, rescuing the formerly Josh McDaniels–coached Raiders and earning the full-time job for one season in 2024 before Tom Brady’s arrival as minority owner.
Mike Kafka, interim head coach, New York Giants
Kafka, now the interim coach, is a former NFL quarterback and on-again, off-again play-caller of the Giants. There are some teams that still covet Kafka as a potential head coach, and his ability to work with Dart and the rest of the bustling Giants quarterback room over the remaining weeks of the season will be closely monitored. Kafka, 38, played for and coached with longtime Giants foil Andy Reid.
Mike Elko, head coach, Texas A&M
The 48-year-old South Brunswick, N.J., native has built a powerhouse after a stop at another well-known Giants hideaway—Duke University. Elko is a program builder with excellent defensive acumen who played and coached in the Northeast region for decades before stops at Notre Dame and A&M as a coordinator, and at Duke as a head coach, where he won 16 games in two years, including a bowl victory in his first season.
Bill Belichick, head coach, North Carolina
While Belichick has done sizable personal damage to his brand, there is little doubt that the coach will mount an aggressive attempt to be considered for what he may view as the gig of a lifetime. Belichick’s love of the Giants is deep, and his ties to the Mara family and a slew of franchise legends are undeniable. After a rocky start in Chapel Hill, Belichick lost to a ranked Virginia team in overtime and notched back-to-back wins over Syracuse and Stanford. The Tar Heels could finish the season bowl eligible.
Nate Scheelhaase, passing-game coordinator, Los Angeles Rams
The 35-year-old is a staple of Sean McVay’s highly innovative offensive staff and could emerge as a surprise candidate this offseason. Having cut his teeth on the NFL-loved Matt Campbell staff at Iowa State, Scheelhaase was a four-year starter at the University of Illinois at quarterback and completed his tenure with the Illini by helping the school win its first bowl game in nearly 10 years. He has been with the Rams since 2024 and was sought after on the offensive coordinator interview circuit this offseason, with requests being made from the Buccaneers and Jaguars. He had two additional OC interview offers that he turned down.
Lou Anarumo, defensive coordinator, Indianapolis Colts
Anarumo, 59, interviewed for the Giants’ opening during the team’s previous head coach vacancy when it hired Daboll. The Staten Island native has come close to a handful of head coaching jobs after emerging as a critical piece of the Bengals’ Super Bowl run back in 2021. Anarumo was let go in Cincinnati this past season amid a staff shakeup but immediately pivoted to a successful stint as the current Colts’ defensive coordinator. Anarumo’s son, Louis, is a pro scout for the Giants.
Klint Kubiak, offensive coordinator, Seattle Seahawks
Kubiak is without question the top explosive-play-hunting offensive coordinator in the NFL right now, after starting the 2024 season as a hot coordinator in New Orleans before a series of devastating injuries derailed the Saints’ season. Kubiak has experience on the revered 49ers staff and is the son of NFL legend Gary Kubiak, an offensive stalwart in his own right.
Kevin Patullo, offensive coordinator, Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles and the Giants have long played a cat-and-mouse game at the head coaching position. The Eagles wanted to bring in former Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo before the Giants hired him as a full-time head coach, and the Eagles also interviewed Tom Coughlin after Coughlin was forced out as well. The Giants could return the favor with Patullo, who, beyond his play-calling duties, has been essential in the building of Philadelphia’s revered Super Bowl–winning staff. He is an expert in how the Eagles are constructed under the hood.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fifteen Top Candidates to Replace Brian Daboll as Giants Head Coach.
