Brian Daboll has unlocked Saquon Barkley. The Giants’ star running back is in the midst of a breakout season, being deployed as a major weapon in all facets of their offense.
Some advice from Bill Belichick helped Daboll extract the most from the 2018 first-round pick.
is the legend of Belichick starting to crumble?
The Athletic’s Dan Pompei recently published an extensive profile of Daboll and his success with the Giants. Unlike other members of Belichick’s coaching tree, Daboll is flourishing.
The Giants are 7-2 and on pace to reach the postseason for the first time since 2016. Barkley’s incredible production is one of the biggest reasons why. In nine games this season, he’s rushed for 931 yards and gained 1,128 total yards — good for 103.4 and 125.3 per game, respectively. Those figures blow away Barkley’s production from his outstanding rookie campaign, in which he averaged 81.7 rushing yards and 126.8 total yards.
Pompei writes that Daboll learned from Belichick to “use your best players any way you can to help you win,” explaining the team’s creative use of Barkley this season.
“He’s not going to try to force a square peg into a round hole,” said Giants offensive line coach Bobby Johnson. “It’s what tools do I have, how do I maximize those?”
Daboll has also borrowed from Tom Brady. Working as an offensive assistant with New England for 10 years, Daboll learned how Brady sees the field. He wants his perimeter players to “view their assignments through the same lens he views them,” Pompei writes. When Daboll was putting the Giants’ offense together, he made sure that Daniel Jones’ receivers and tight ends were seeing the field just like him.
Though Daboll designed the Giants’ new offense, he isn’t calling plays on game day. After seeking the advice of four accomplished NFL head coaches, he opted to hire his own offensive coordinator.
Daboll is a head coach, not an offensive coordinator with a “head coach” title. “I know the amount of preparation it takes to get ready to call a game,” said Daboll. “I would say it’s very significant. I wanted to spend a lot of time with each unit, going through how I see the game to give us a chance to win but letting them do their jobs.”
That’s one area in which Daboll seems to be different from Belichick: he’s relying on outside and unfamiliar voices. The article notes that Daboll only has a previous connection with 28 percent of his coaches.
Maybe that’s the key difference between Daboll and other Belichick disciples. Daboll is applying what he learned from the Hoodie, but isn’t copying him outright.