Brian Daboll claims he once lost over 100 pounds during a football season.
By that standard, the Giants head coach didn’t sound all that impressed with the way he’s transformed his body since last season ended.
It’s an incredible physical transformation by any standard, and one he believes has worked to his advantage in his competitive streak.
“It started with a weight loss challenge that we did with our staff,” Daboll said.
But Daboll also made a second bet with biker friends in a group of 30 to 40 people he’s kept in contact with since they attended high school in the Buffalo area.
He wasn’t going to lose twice.
“They kind of know my weight history, my weight gain and loss history,” Daboll said. “There was a season in Cleveland where I lost 112 pounds. I didn’t lose that much weight. 1721897403However, last year I lost a bet with one of my best friends.
“My main goal this year was to beat him, so I had to do something.”
As in the spring, safety Dane Belton took over as starter in place of rookie second-round pick Tyler Nubin.
The same goes for cornerback Cordale Flott, who was one of the stars of last season’s camp as a rookie but is better than Tre Hawkins, who was benched by Week 4.
“It’s important that we have young guys contributing,” general manager Joe Sean said, pointing to the big numbers on the Giants’ salary-cap ledger.
Belton and Flott were two of 11 players selected from Sean’s first draft class of 2022. All are still on the roster, and many of them have bigger roles than ever before.
“I’m excited to watch them grow and integrate into the culture that we wanted to build here,” Sean said, “and they’re the standard-bearers for what we want to do when the next class comes.”
Neither Schoen nor Daboll expressed expectations for Year 3 of the administration.
“Those are the conversations we’ve had,” Daboll said, “but our mindset is we’re happy that today is here and we’re going to start competing to see what our team looks like in 2024.”
Sean said he has “great communication” with owners every day.
“They understand where we are and what we’re trying to do,” he said. “We intend to continue doing this.”
