NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Robert Saleh used to think Brian Daboll was a jerk.
When Saleh was the defensive coordinator for the 49ers, and Daboll was directing the Bills’ offense, Daboll would give him the cold shoulder.
“I always thought he was a jerk,” Saleh told The Athletic, with a laugh. “When we’d play against him, he never said hello.”
That belief was altered shortly after Daboll was hired as the coach of the Giants and moved to New Jersey — a year after Saleh had been hired by the Jets. Daboll called Saleh and invited his family over to the house to hang out by the pool. Saleh learned that’s just the competitive fire Daboll operates with — especially on game day. The intensity is always there on the practice field and during games, but Saleh has seen it dissipate in a more private, personal setting.
And there will be a lot more of those moments now.
The two most recently fired coaches of New York’s two football franchises are joining forces in the Music City: Saleh as head coach of the Tennessee Titans, and Daboll as his offensive coordinator. There’s been some trauma bonding that led them to this moment — there are few men in the world who can understand the trials and tribulations that come with coaching in the pressure cooker of New York and New Jersey. Both had extreme highs and lows, were enveloped by intense criticism, struggled with bad stretches of losing and poor quarterback play — and each was fired during their fourth season on the job. Daboll went 20-40-1 with the Giants, Saleh was 20-36 with the Jets.
“We’ve had many conversations about just how we would handle things,” Saleh said on Thursday. “The empathy of being in the (New York) market. We built a common appreciation for the way we go about our business — the way he runs offense, the way I run defense, and so to be able to link up with him, we’re very fortunate.”
The two linked up for the first time at the 2022 owners’ meetings in Orlando, Fla., when they plotted joint practices for the Giants and Jets that summer. There was an assumption when Mike McDaniel was fired by the Dolphins as head coach that he might join Saleh, his close friend, as offensive coordinator in Tennessee. But McDaniel had other opportunities and ultimately took a job with the Chargers. Knowing that, Daboll was one of Saleh’s first calls. During the pursuit, they spent a lot of time on the phone discussing what a partnership might look like. Leaders in the Titans organization spent some time with Daboll, too, interviewing him for their head-coaching job early in the process.
Eventually, all sides agreed that a marriage made sense. And the mutual respect Saleh and Daboll share for each other is a crucial reason why Daboll picked this job over other opportunities, but it’s not the only reason — and not the biggest one.
That would be the quarterback.
A lot was made about Daboll’s infatuation with Jaxson Dart leading up to, during and certainly after last year’s NFL Draft. The Giants and their general manager Joe Schoen went out of their way to make it clear that Daboll was the one pushing for Dart — the biggest reason why they traded back into the first round to get him. And that is true — Daboll certainly didn’t hide his love for the Ole Miss quarterback. After one game last year, multiple reporters observed Daboll seeking out Dart in the postgame locker room to say “I love you.”
But the part of that love affair that often gets left out: The Giants actually tried trading up from No. 3 to No. 1 in order to pick Cam Ward, even offering both their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks, according to ESPN. The Titans rejected the offer, the Giants picked Abdul Carter at No. 3, and then made a trade to draft Dart at No. 25. And now Daboll is in Tennessee, coaching the quarterback the Giants tried and failed to land atop the draft.
The hope is that Daboll adds some stability and cultivates a better environment for the young quarterback than Ward had in a tumultuous rookie season that saw his first head coach (Brian Callahan) fired early in the season.
Daboll became a head coach on the heels of the work he did with Josh Allen in Buffalo from 2018-21. He won Coach of the Year in 2022 thanks largely to his work with Daniel Jones (and a run to the playoffs), and Dart impressed as a rookie up until the moment Daboll was fired. It would be fair to point out some of the struggles of those Daboll-led offenses — from 2023-2025, the Giants ranked 28th in offensive EPA, 29th in passing, 28th in scoring and only scored 20 or more points 17 times in 44 games. The Giants also switched back and forth between Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka calling plays at various points. Saleh’s offenses weren’t especially productive in New York, wasting a couple of high-level defensive seasons — namely in 2022 and 2023 — because of the Jets’ struggles on offense.
Daboll won 20 games in three-plus seasons as head coach of the Giants before being fired in 2025. (Julian Leshay Guadalupe / Imagn Images)
The main issues on that offense were instability at offensive coordinator, as owner Woody Johnson forced him to fire Mike LaFleur after the 2022 season and replace him with the disastrous Nathaniel Hackett. Saleh also hitched his wagon to No. 2 pick Zach Wilson, which failed, and Aaron Rodgers, which went awry when he tore his Achilles. There were issues on the offensive line, too. Which is why Saleh’s offensive coordinator hire was so crucial — if Saleh is calling the defense, he needs someone capable of running the offense on his own. It helps that the Titans already have their quarterback, even if he needs some development.
And Daboll’s work in developing quarterbacks is undeniable, whether it ultimately worked out with the Giants or not.
“‘Dabs’ has had a history of developing young quarterbacks in this league and college and at different stops he’s had,” Saleh said. “He’s touched many from experienced to youth and he has a tremendous amount of experience with quarterbacks all over.”
Ward flashed some of the talent that made him the consensus choice at No. 1 last year, but it was bumpy at times. He had eight games he started and finished where he accumulated fewer than 200 passing yards, and in five of them, he had less than 150. He finished with 14 turnovers — seven interceptions, seven lost fumbles — in 17 games. He ranked 39th of 42 eligible quarterbacks in EPA per dropback, per TruMedia, and only completed 59.8 percent of his passes. Still, it’s important to remember he was in a dysfunctional coaching environment without a true No. 1 receiver or consistent running game. He also was sacked 55 times, tied for the most in the NFL.
Yet Ward still showed flashes, especially at the end of the season. According to PFF, Ward had the 16th-most big-time throws (21). From Week 12-17, Ward threw nine touchdowns and one interception and tied for the 10th-most big-time throws.
“For Cam, the best way to develop a quarterback is to give him a team that doesn’t make him feel like he has to be Superman, at least early on,” Saleh said. “There is going to be a time as Cam continues to develop where he can put this entire organization on his shoulders and lead it to a win. But asking that of a young kid I think is unrealistic. So, building a structure for him that doesn’t ask him to be Superman 60 plays a game will be at the front of our minds.”
That is also where Daboll comes in. With Dart, Daboll coached him hard in training camp and hovered around him most of the time in practice. The two spoke pretty much daily — and Daboll once told a story about Dart calling him late at night to talk things through. During one preseason game, Daboll shut off Dart’s headset and forced him to figure out how to call a play on the fly, without help. That drive ended with a touchdown. Daboll also gave Dart the freedom to make his own checks at the line of scrimmage to allow him to play faster.
In 17 starts as a rookie, Cam Ward threw for 3,169 yards and 15 TDs, while running for 159 yards and two touchdowns. (Andrew Nelles / Imagn Images)
Now, the two are different quarterbacks — and so how Daboll uses Ward, and coaches him, will look different. But one thing in particular that should benefit Ward in Daboll’s offense: the use of RPOs. The Giants were fourth in the NFL using RPOs at a 12.6 percent rate last year — and Ward thrived in an RPO-heavy offense at the University of Miami in 2024. Daboll’s offense in Tennessee will be different than what Saleh is used to — he carried the Kyle Shanahan scheme with him to New York, but Daboll runs things differently. He comes from the Erhardt-Perkins system, which is predicated on a concept-based passing game that also uses runs to set up the pass. Saleh said on Thursday that most of the NFL runs something similar to Shanahan on offense at this point, so Daboll will offer a twist. “When you play the Tennessee Titans,” he said. “It’s going to be different.”
Ward will be at the heart of what they do on offense. Saleh seems to think Ward’s and Daboll’s personalities will be a match, too.
“Cam, from everything I’ve gathered and all the discussions I’ve had throughout the building, throughout the league: He comes with an elite work ethic, elite character, elite person,” Saleh said. “The biggest thing we’re gonna work with Cam is just going all the way back to the beginning. We’ve gotten a whole offseason to work with him, take him back to the beginning on the field and off the field, the process, what it looks like to not only be a professional with regards to preparation with his body but also with regards to preparing from a game-planning standpoint or playbook standpoint.”
Saleh called Daboll the “perfect man to match up with Cam and to maximize who he is.”
If all goes according to plan, Daboll won’t be in Nashville very long. He interviewed with the Raiders, Bills and Titans for head-coaching jobs this cycle, and if he gets the most out of Ward in 2026 (and beyond), he’ll get other opportunities in the future. Saleh didn’t bring Daboll to Tennessee with the idea that he’d be here for long.
But he’s here now. He chose the Titans, he chose Ward — and he chose Saleh.
It didn’t work out for them in New York. Together, they’ll try to make it work in Tennessee.