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For the fourth time in seven years, the New York Giants have a head coach opening. And while Giants owner John Mara might be looking to steer well clear of the New England coaching tree after the failed stints of two ex-Patriots assistants in Joe Judge and Brian Daboll, it's worth at least wondering if New York will consider two prominent names with Foxboro ties: Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick. McDaniels has already flamed out twice as an NFL head coach, going 11-17 with the Denver Broncos and 9-16 with the Las Vegas Raiders. But the Patriots offensive coordinator has worked wonders with Drake Maye this season, elevating the second-year quarterback into the NFL MVP front-runner through 10 games. So, would the Giants be interested in pairing McDaniels with their own talented young QB in rookie Jaxson Dart? Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer shared what he's hearing about New York's search for Daboll's replacement Tuesday on Arbella Early Edition. "My expectation is that they're going to really cast a wide net here to try to look for the right guy to replace Brian Daboll," Breer said. "Obviously Jaxson Dart, his development is going to be a huge part of it. I also think it's a pretty attractive job. There are a bunch of guys at premium positions: Malik Nabers, Andrew Thomas, Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Dexter Lawrence -- that really create a good nucleus around Jaxson Dart. It should be a great job." As Breer pointed out, the Giants may not be opposed to hiring a candidate who was fired elsewhere, in part because they won two Super Bowls under Tom Coughlin, who was let go by the Jacksonville Jaguars two years before coming to New York. "They had their greatest success with a re-tread," Breer said. "Tom Coughlin had been fired in Jacksonville (before the Giants hired him). A part of them reaching their greatest, most recent success was under Tom Coughlin, so certainly they could go down that road of hiring a re-tread. "I would be surprised if Josh winds up being the pick here, but maybe not shocked, because Josh still does check a lot of boxes. The thing is you're gonna have to be able to really wrap your head around what happened in Vegas, what happened in Indy (when McDaniels turned down the Colts' head coach job after initially accepting it) and what happened in Denver." As for Belichick, Breer thinks it's highly unlikely that the current University of North Carolina head coach makes the jump back to the NFL, even after his Tar Heels have won two games in a row to "improve" to 4-5 on the season. "No. 1, I think what you'd ask of Bill is, 'Can you put a coach in waiting in place?" Breer said about the concerns an NFL team may have about the 73-year-old Belichick. "'... Can you put somebody on the staff who is going to be positioned to replace you who doesn't have the same last name as you?' "No. 2 is, 'Who's going to work with the quarterback?' This is one of the things that really wound up sinking Bill at the end (in New England). When the Patriots were at their best under Bill, they did such a good job of developing people. And it wasn't just players -- they were developing coaches. "... Over the last 5 years here, it stopped. So, where is he going to find those assistants now? ... There's a reason why Judge and Patricia were running this offense. The pipeline had run dry." Long story short: While the Giants may at least ponder the idea of bringing on McDaniels, it seems like a long shot that either he or Belichick will be serious candidates for this opening.
