The New York Giants won’t make a head-coaching hire until a new general manager is in place. That’s the plan according to co-owner John Mara, at least.
But that isn’t stopping Big Blue from looking ahead while their first round of GM interviews has taken place.
SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano confirmed previous reports that the Giants have former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores and Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll on their shortlist of potential head-coaching candidates. That means they could get interviews for the Giants job regardless of who the general manager might be.
There is obvious interest in both targets, which means the Giants will have plenty of competition — so time is of the essence.
Flores has already interviewed with the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears and there will likely be more, too. The Brooklyn, NY native turned a 5-11 record in 2019 with the Dolphins into two-straight winning seasons. It was the first time in nearly two decades that the Dolphins had back-to-back winning seasons, which made Flores’ firing all the more surprising after winning eight of his last nine games with Miami this season before missing the playoffs.
Given Flores’ local roots, Vacchiano added that Flores would be very interested in the Giants job, but “he might not be willing to wait for it.”
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Up in Buffalo, Daboll’s season is still very much rolling along with a Bills team that thrashed the New England Patriots 47-17 in the AFC Wild Card Game on Saturday night. He’s taking Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and the Bills’ offense to a new level as they look to make a long-awaited return to the Super Bowl stage, which has only increased his appeal around the league. He’s already met with the Bears, too.
But Daboll has long been on the Giants’ radar. Upon hiring Joe Judge ahead of the 2020 season, there was a hope that they could interview Daboll for the offensive coordinator job. But the Bills denied New York permission, forcing the Giants to settle for Jason Garrett — which was a relationship that didn’t even last two years.
