INDIANAPOLIS — Just days after Brian Daboll became the new head coach of the New York Giants, his name appeared several times in Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL for alleged racism in its hiring practices.
Daboll got the job Flores was interviewing for in New York, and he learned during that process that the interview was a sham, according to the suit. Flores explained that he was told early in the process that if he landed the job, Daboll may be interested in being his offensive coordinator because of trouble in Buffalo with Sean McDermott.
On Tuesday afternoon, McDermott spoke to the media on the opening day of the NFL scouting combine. He admitted that there were some tough chats among coaches last season, but added that he was happy for Daboll when he was hired by the Giants.
“We’ve won a lot of games and through that there’s conversations that take place that they get hard, right? Not every conversation on good teams and thriving teams, like we’ve been, are going to be easy,” McDermott said. “But no, I had no issue with Brian.”
Daboll was asked about a rift and he dismissed it, too.
“I loved my time in Buffalo and working for Sean and Brandon (Beane).”
The Buffalo Bills have an entirely new-look offensive coaching staff in the wake of Daboll’s move (technically) out of state to New Jersey.
Josh Allen’s quarterbacks coach the past three seasons, Ken Dorsey, is now the offensive coordinator and is set to call plays for the first time in his coaching career. McDermott hired Joe Brady as Allen’s new quarterbacks coach and Aaron Kromer as the new offensive line coach. Both have been offensive coordinators in the NFL and bring that experience to the staff to assist Dorsey in his first season in his new role.
McDermott said he’s been in Dorsey’s position before as a first-time coordinator and that there’s no substitute for experience. That factored into the choices of Brady and Kromer.
“Ken is prepared, and he’s well equipped,” McDermott said. “His familiarity with Josh (is important), and Josh’s familiarity with Ken. But there is the element of hey, what happens inside in the office, and I got a guy next to me (Brady) that has experience and called plays. So, I think that’s a big component as well.”
Dorsey was involved in the hiring process of Brady and Kromer. McDermott said that gives him some ownership of the staff. Brady’s success at LSU and his roots going back to William & Mary — where McDermott played and coached — were both reasons McDermott liked Brady.
“You’re talking about, by all accounts, a smart guy that works hard,” McDermott said of Brady. “And so when you combine those two things, which was a big part of some of the decisions that went into those other hires, as well, you can find some intelligence and an ability to work hard or willingness to work hard, work ethic.”
When Sean Payton was suspended back in 2012, Kromer, then the Saints offensive coordinator, was promoted to interim head coach. He’s a two-time OC and has coached some top offensive line units in Buffalo and Los Angeles. McDermott said he tries to track coaches around the league and follow their careers. He said Kromer’s reputation of doing things well and getting players to play at a high level caught his attention.
“What I want to do is play well up front, and I want to protect our quarterback,” McDermott said. “We had an opportunity to land Coach Kromer and we were able to strike and do that, and that’s a big piece to developing that position, right? It’s having the right guy in the room to do that.”
The Bills had almost no turnover on their coaching staff last offseason. With Dorsey now leading the offense and Matthew Smiley in place as the new special teams coordinator, McDermott will have plenty of new voices in key positions. McDermott said continuity can be good on a coaching staff but that it also presents challenges.
New blood could mean new ideas for success.
“We were able to infuse some young coaches into our system as well and to develop them,” he said. “And that’s what you have to continually do just being with Andy (Reid) over the years, when you win people want a piece of what you do and how you do it, so they start grabbing. And you’re seeing that on the personnel side, you’re seeing that on the coaching side, even some of our just non-coaching staff as well. So I think that’s the exciting piece of the challenge of rebuilding for next season.”
