Under-the-Radar Candidate Emerges for Lions' Head Coaching Vacancy
Another day, and another NFL head coaching candidate has gained steam.
This time, it's Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who most notably has developed Josh Allen into one of the best quarterbacks in today's game.
Daboll's name was trending on Twitter Monday night, because of Allen's play on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers.
The 24-year-old Allen completed 80 percent of his passes, and finished with 375 yards and four touchdowns through the air, good for a near season-high passer rating of 139.1.
For the year, Allen, the Bills' first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft (No. 7 overall), owns a 75.1 QBR -- the sixth-best QBR in the league through 13 weeks in the regular season.
It's been a very impressive turnaround for the third-year passer, as he recorded QBRs of just 49.8 and 47.9, respectively, his first two seasons in the league.
Daboll, who's served as Buffalo's offensive play-caller since '18, deserves a significant amount of credit for the strides Allen has made since his rookie campaign.
Additionally, each year Daboll has been in Buffalo, the offense has improved its points-per-game production.
In his first year calling the plays, the Bills averaged just 16.8 points per game -- the 30th-worst mark out of 32 teams.
It improved to 19.6 points per game a season ago -- good for 23rd out of 32 franchises.
Now, in 2020, Daboll's offense has become one of the best the league has to offer.
Through 12 games, Allen & Co. are averaging 27.8 points/game -- the eighth-most points a game in the NFL.
The play of Allen and Buffalo's offense this year has made Daboll one of the hottest names for head coaching vacancies, including for Detroit's.
A myriad of NFL front offices will also likely like the fact that two of his past coaching stops include Alabama, working under Nick Saban, and New England, working under Bill Belichick.
The Lions, however, might view the Belichick connection as a detractor due to ex-Patriots assistant Matt Patricia's failed tenure in Motown.
If Detroit ownership, led by Sheila Ford Hamp, can look past that, though, there might be a fit for Daboll in the Motor City, especially if the new general manager decides to take a quarterback early in next year's NFL Draft.
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