4 takeaways from Brian Daboll: Play-calling, Travis Hunter, more

Daboll talks draft, Russell Wilson, more at owner’s meetings

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll said Tuesday at the NFL owner’s meetings that he is not ready to make a decision on whether or not he will call offensive plays again in the 2025 season.

“Playcalling, we’ll make that decision as we go into the preseason and training camp,” Daboll said from The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Tuesday.

“Whatever it is, once we get to that point, that I feel is going to be the best for the football team… whatever that ends up being, the end product, I’m going to probably do,” he added.

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka called plays in 2022 when the Giants won a playoff game and again in 2023 when the Giants were 30th in the NFL in points scored and fell to a 6-11 record.

Daboll, offensive coordinator and play-caller at a number of stops before becoming Giants head coach, took over that role in 2024. It did not help, as the Giants finished 31st in scoring and went 3-14.

Giants general manager Joe Schoen has long favored the head coach not calling plays, though he has always maintained he would allow Daboll to make the final decision.

In announcing that Daboll and Schoen would return for a fourth season, Mara raised the issue of whether or not Daboll calling plays was best for the team.

“I talked to him [Friday] about, ‘Do you really believe that it’s in our best interest for you to continue calling the plays?’ I said, ‘I’m not going to demand that you do one thing or the other, but are you better off letting somebody else call the plays?‘” Mara said at the time.

“And that’s a discussion that we’re going to continue to have. There are issues like that, that we have to have some further discussion about. But at the end of the day, he’s got to make the decision on whether he does that.”

The guess here is that Daboll, with two new veteran quarterbacks and the possibility of a rookie draft pick being added to the roster, will be loathe to give up play-calling. Daboll’s play-calling and ability to develop quarterbacks is a big part of what got him his current job. If there is an offensive turnaround by the Giants in 2025, logic dictates that Daboll is going to want a chance to claim credit for it.

Here are some other takeaways from Daboll’s press availability.

‘Fun’ with Travis

If the Giants don’t, or aren’t able, to choose a quarterback at No. 3 in the 2025 NFL Draft it is possible that Heisman Trophy-winning cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter could be a Giant.

Daboll did not commit to selecting Hunter, or to how the Giants would use him if they did select him.

“I think he’s a good player both ways,” Daboll said.

He did, though, admit to enjoying a very lengthy process of evaluating Hunter.

“There’s a lot of tape. It’s really remarkable what he has done and the ability to perform at that level not really getting a rest,” Daboll said. “He’s been a fun player to evaluate and to meet and talk with. He’s a heck of a player.”

Quarterback of the future

“That’s obviously the number one issue for us going into this offseason, is to find our quarterback of the future.”

Those were Mara’s words back in January.

So, does Daboll feel pressure to get a quarterback in the draft after the team added veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston?

“You do the best job you can to try to find the right one for your team,” Daboll said. “We’re gonna go through the evaluation of all the guys that have been on my list to look at and talk to.”

Daboll added that “everything’s gotta fall in line” to get the quarterback you want.

“You don’t know when they’re gonna get taken,” Daboll said. “There’s an affinity you have for a player if you feel like that player’s the right player and they’re sitting there at whatever pick it is you have. Is it a reach? Is it not a reach? I’m not gonna get into that, it’s how you feel about the player and does that player match where you want to take him.”

Daboll will not be part of the Giants’ contingent at the Colorado Pro Day on Friday, where quarterback Shedeur Sanders will throw. He said he prefers private workouts for quarterbacks.

Did his eyes bleed?

Before the Giants signed Wilson, Daboll watched every play of Wilson’s 13-year career.

“Did a lot of work on him,” Daboll said. “He makes good decisions with the football. He’s athletic. He’s a little bit older, so maybe not as athletic as ‘13 and ‘14, but certainly has ability to use his legs, extend plays, create explosive plays.”

Daboll also called Wilson a “phenomenal” deep ball thrower.