After Moving on From Brian Daboll, What’s Next for the Giants?

It’s been one week since the Giants informed Brian Daboll that he was no longer the head coach, and after a fifth-straight loss on Sunday against Green Bay, discussing the product on the field isn’t something most Giants fans, including myself, even want to do. The Jameis Winston experience is fun, until it isn’t, as shown by his two turnovers at the end of the game, and right now, all anyone can talk about is potential DROY candidate Abdul Carter allegedly sleeping through his alarm and missing practice.

What I’d like to talk about instead is where the Giants can go next. It’s Mike Kafka’s job now, and while he’s officially 0-1 as a head coach, he was playing essentially with a hand tied behind his back. Down his QB1, RB1(or 2), WR1, WR3, and Edge2, the game was much closer than it probably should have been against a top NFC Contender.

Still, if Kafka isn’t able to find some wins here in the next six games, closer than it should have been isn’t going to get the interim tag taken off. Personally, I do think his quarterback acumen from working with Patrick Mahomes, his familiarity with Jaxson Dart, and his opening script make him a strong candidate. Still, it will be much more cut-and-dry in the offseason, when we have a larger sample size of how he can lead a team.

Who Do the Giants Turn to Next?

The NFL is clearly a coaching league, as Giants fans are currently witnessing with Daniel Jones’ resurgence in Indianapolis. However, I have no idea what the Giants should do, as this is looking like one of the weaker coaching candidate pools in recent years. Unfortunately, no Mike Vrabel is sitting around waiting to jump back into coaching and take the Giants from the bottom to the top in one year.

Fox NFL analyst, Jay Glazer, gave a list of 6 key early candidates before Sunday’s game:

• Mike McCarthy - Former Packers and Cowboys Head Coach

• Matt Nagy - Former Bears Head Coach and current Chiefs Offensive Coordinator

• Lou Anarumo - Former Giants Assistant and current Colts Defensive Coordinator

• Steve Spagnulo - Former Giants Defensive Coordinator and current Chiefs Defensive Coordinator

• Arthur Smith - Former Falcons Head Coach and current Steelers Offensive Coordinator

• Chris Shula - Current Rams Defensive Coordinator

The Good

I’ll include Mike Kafka in this section because I’m interested to see how he does when Jaxson Dart returns, and I think keeping continuity with a younger roster is important. I’ll also say that going with a defensive-minded head coach like Lou Anarumo or Chris Shula wouldn’t be a bad option either, given the amount of talent on that side of the ball and how coaching has been failing them all year. I think Shula and Kafka, in particular, would be my two top choices, given their youth (39 and 38, respectively), as there isn’t some perfect older candidate out there.

The Bad

The betting favorite right now is Mike McCarthy, and I don’t like that one bit, considering how his last stint as a head coach ended. McCarthy did a great job with Dak Prescott in Dallas, but there’s a consistent precedent of making the playoffs and then losing in awful ways, even dating back to his time in Green Bay. I’m sure a lot of fans would take winning seasons and playoff berths right now, but as a fan of the Phillies, trust me, it’s almost less fun to feel like you’re right there and consistently lose over and over.

As far as Spags, I have him as a bad option, not because of his poor record as a head coach (.208 winning %), but mainly because I don’t think he’ll take the job. He’s been rumored in coaching searches for years, and to be frank, better jobs have come open than in New York, and he’s stayed put in Kansas City.

The Ugly

I’ll keep this one short and sweet. I may not be qualified to run a head coaching search (we’ll see if Joe Schoen is soon enough), but I’ll tell you right now, if I see a headline that reads Matt Nagy or Arthur Smith introduced as the new head coach of the New York Giants, I’m hitting free agency myself.