On Wednesday morning, the Associated Press announced that New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll was a finalist for the NFL Coach of the Year Award.
The other finalists are Doug Pederson of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers.
Pederson, the former head coach of the Eagles, led the Jacksonville Jaguars to a 9-8 record and an AFC South title in his first year as their head coach. Shanahan led the San Francisco 49ers to a 13-4 record, including a 5-0 stretch to end the year despite starting third-string rookie quarterback Brock Purdy.
Meanwhile, Daboll led the Giants to a 9-7-1 record in his first season as head coach and a first-round playoff upset of the Minnesota Vikings; although, postseason accomplishments do not factor into the voting.
While many will look at the Giants’ postseason birth as the key achievement on Brian Daboll’s resume for Coach of the Year, it’s his development of Daniel Jones that should really be garnering the attention.
Coming into the 2022 season, Daniel Jones led the NFL with 65 INTs and Fumbles combined. In 2022, he threw just five interceptions, which was just a 1.1% interception rate. Jones also completed a career-high 67.2% of his passes and had a career-high in yards per attempt despite seemingly playing more conservatively.
The Giants ranked 15th in the NFL in scoring rate, 7th in rushing yards per game, and 1st in offensive turnover rate despite having few weapons outside of Saquon Barkley. For much of the season, Jones was throwing to a wide receiving corps led by Richie James, Darius Slayton, and Isaiah Hodgins.
Brian Daboll’s work to make the Giants even an average offense with the personnel they had is a tremendous accomplishment, and one worthy of taking home the award.
He was also already named the NFC Coach of the Year as part of the 53rd annual 101 Awards, the Committee of 101 announced Tuesday. Pederson was awarded the AFC Coach of the Year.
The press release stated: “His 20+ years of NFL coaching experience helped the Giants get off to a 6-1 start to the season, marking the best start for a Giants first-year head coach since 1929. He is also the fifth Giants head coach to lead his team to the playoffs in his debut season. Of the three first-time head coaches who made the 2022 playoffs, Daboll is the only one who advanced to the Divisional Round.”
Daboll became the fourth coach in Giants history to win the NFC Coach of the Year award, along with Bill Parcells (1986), Dan Reeves (1993), and Jim Fassel (1997).
As of Week 18, Vegas had the Coach of the Year odds at Nick Sirianni +150, Kyle Shanahan +175, Brian Daboll +215, and Doug Pederson +1200. With Sirianni not named as a finalist, it would seem that Shanahan would be the betting favorite for the award, but Daboll is just behind him.
Given that Brian Daboll beat Shanahan for the NFC Coach of the Year at the 101 Awards, it feels like a bet to win Coach of the Year could be a profitable one.
FIRST-BET OFFER!CLAIM OFFER
