A footnote in Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL and three of its teams states that Tim McDonnell, the Giants’ co-director of player personnel, had a text exchange with Flores that indicated a growing rift between Bills coach Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. McDonnell suggested Daboll wasn’t happy with the Bills and might leave to be an offensive coordinator elsewhere if Daboll didn’t get a head coaching job.
Daboll got the Giants’ head coaching job, prompting Flores’ lawsuit.
On Tuesday, McDermott was asked about the supposed rift between he and his former offensive coordinator.
“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, via Matt Parrino of syracuse.com. “But no I had no issue with Brian.”
Who knows what would have happened had Daboll not gotten a head coaching job, but he did. So it’s easy for everyone now to deny a rift.
“Great four years at Buffalo with Sean, (General Manager) Brandon (Beane) and the support staff. The players,” Daboll said. “A very special place to me. Obviously, I grew up there, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity that those guys gave me.
“Yeah, I loved my time in Buffalo and appreciated Brandon and being around all those people, and obviously this was a head coaching opportunity, so it was something I’ve strived for for the past 25 years.”