If things had broken a little differently atop the 2018 NFL Draft, Brian Daboll might have been coaching Sam Darnold.
Would Darnold have had anywhere close to the success that Josh Allen has enjoyed in his six seasons under the stability of the Bills, likewise allowing Daboll to elevate from his offensive coordinator to head coach of the Giants?
Or would Darnold still have failed to meet lofty expectations and sent a fired Daboll on a nomadic path similar to his own?
The answer will never be known, but Daboll isn’t about to underestimate Darnold’s potential in his Vikings debut Sunday against the Giants at his familiar home of MetLife Stadium.
“I know he’s been to four different places,” Daboll said, “but he’s an athletic quarterback that has a good head on his shoulders — knows where to go with the football. He’s surrounded by some really good players at Minnesota, and experience helps at any position. I’ve always been a big fan of Sam, and he’s got a good team around him, a good play-caller, and it’ll certainly be a challenge.”
Daboll and Giants general manager Joe Schoen — Buffalo’s assistant general manager at the time — “spent a lot of time” with Darnold in workouts, meetings and private dinners during that 2018 offseason.
The Browns selected Baker Mayfield at No. 1, the Giants passed on quarterback altogether for Saquon Barkley at No. 2, the Jets took Darnold at No. 3 and the Bills ultimately traded up twice to reach No. 7 for Allen.
Daboll believes continuity of coaches and offensive schemes figures prominently into which first-round quarterbacks hit and which ones miss, as seen on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
Using the 2018 class as an example, Mayfield, Darnold and the Cardinals’ Josh Rosen all endured coaching changes after their rookie seasons and became journeymen, while Allen and the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson are perennial MVP candidates still playing under their first head coach.
“Every organization is different,” Daboll said. “I don’t want to speak for other teams.”
Daboll’s track record shows patience in an impatient league. He developed Allen from a raw rookie into a promising player for a playoff team in 2019 and into the MVP runner-up in 2020.
This is Daboll’s third season coaching Daniel Jones, who is at the make-or-break point of his career. The reason Daboll was reviewing first-round quarterback history in the first place was the strong consideration the Giants gave to drafting a replacement for Jones in April.
One of the quarterbacks the Giants declined to draft went to the Vikings, but rookie J.J. McCarthy suffered a season-ending injury in August.
It handed the starting job to Darnold, who went 13-25 for the Jets — before he was replaced by Zach Wilson — and is 8-10 for the Panthers and 49ers since then.
“They’ve got a skill set that you think you can develop,” Daboll said of sticking with quarterbacks Allen and Jones. “You continue to work with them and you do everything you can do — whether it’s design, whether it’s personnel groups, whether it’s different types of plays that they feel good about. It’s consistent communication and understanding the system.
“There’s a lot that goes into this position. It’s not an easy position to play or coach. Again, each player is different. I was around a few of them here the last few years that have stuck and that have played good football.”
Daboll offered no injury updates Monday, deferring to Wednesday’s official report. … TE/FB Jakob Johnson was re-signed to the practice squad and WR Miles Boykin — a special teams ace — was released.
