Bills' Brian Daboll Update: His Exit Seems Imminent
Last year was a matter of "if." This year is a matter of "when."
When and where, that it is, regarding Buffalo Bills highly respected offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who just completed his fourth season with the Bills but is not expected to make it to Season 5.
Too many teams are interested in making him a head coach in this hiring cycle, and he has emerged as perhaps the strongest candidate for the openings with the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins, who plan to interview him a second time, according to multiple reports on Thursday.
Should Daboll get to choose, there is much to consider.
With the Giants, he would be assured of working with a new general manager who comes from the Bills in Joe Schoen. He also would be working with a quarterback in Daniel Jones who can potentially do more damage to opponents with his legs than Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Jones in the 2020 season was clocked at 21.23 miles per hour on an 80-yard run against the Philadelphia Eagles. That's not only faster than Allen but faster than Lamar Jackson, a former MVP.
Schoen said the Giants remain committed to Jones despite his record of 12-25 as a starter over three seasons.
Because of that, it's also hard to imagine Schoen thinking anyone else would be more qualified than Daboll to turn Jones' career around.
What's more, other than the Super Bowl, Daboll would have to face Allen and the Bills as little as one time every four seasons rather than a minimum of twice and sometimes thrice in a season.
On the other hand, Daboll may not be able to have the same kind of hands-on impact on a quarterback as a head coach than he did as a coordinator. His responsibilities would be too great.
That could lead him to the Dolphins, who are coming off two straight winning seasons and appear to have a good defense in place along with a quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa, who this past season completed 67.8% of his passes and owns a 13-8 record as a starter in his two-year career.
Regardless of where Daboll lands, the Bills will have to fill those shoes, and they have wisely promised to involve Allen in the process.
Allen will push first for his position coach, Ken Dorsey, unless Dorsey follows Daboll to his new destination.
That's highly unlikely, however, because there is little sense in Dorsey giving up a chance to call plays for a quarterback like Allen to be a coordinator with perhaps less power on a lesser team.
Also being considered for head-coaching vacancies is defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, and the Bills believe they have strong coaches on their staff who can step into that role.
However, anything short of a full-court press for Vic Fangio, a highly respected defensive mastermind who was fired as head of the Denver Broncos this month, would be negligent.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
