Giants’ Brian Daboll wished he ‘handled things differently’ last year

Brian Daboll is switching gears as he embarks on his third season has head coach of the New York Giants.

On Tuesday morning at the NFC coaches’ breakfast with reporters at the annual league meeting in Orlando, Daboll admitted his first two seasons did not go exactly according to plan.

So, he’s evolving.

Brian Daboll says he’s done self-evaluation this offseason.

“There are times I wish I handled things differently.”

Says you always need to evolve. pic.twitter.com/Up2UihMJTO

— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) March 26, 2024

Daboll butted heads with many of his assistant coaches and even went as far to purge his staff of two coordinators (Wink Martindale and Thomas McGaughey) and several other assistants, including offensive line coach Bobby Johnson this offseason.

That contentiousness may continue with his remaining coordinator, Mike Kafka, whom Daboll has also not seen exactly eye-to-eye with. Daboll was asked if he would assume the offensive playcalling this season. He didn’t run it out.

Brian Daboll says no decision has been made yet on whether he will call plays this season #NYGiants pic.twitter.com/vwKWxgJMWW

— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) March 26, 2024

Kafka is seen around the league as a future head coach and probably should have landed one of the half-dozen jobs he’s interviewed for the past two offseasons.

It’s clear he’ll always be second banana to Daboll here in New York, something Daboll continues to stress even though he’s promoted Kafka to assistant head coach.

Daboll’s volatile style has not escaped the eye of management. On Monday, CEO John Mara told reporters he wished Daboll would ‘tone it down’ at times but ‘I still very firmly believe that Brian is the right guy for us going forward.’