How Giants’ Head Coach Brian Daboll Helped Make the Quarterback Jalen Hurts Has Become

Say what you want about the oft-maligned head coach of the New York Giants Brian Daboll.  He maybe coaching in his last season for Big Blue or perhaps not.  Despite a 2-6 record and getting smashed by the Philadelphia Eagles this past Sunday 38-20, Daboll seams to at least have his team showing some promise with the addition of rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.  If you’re wondering why his last “franchise” quarterback, Daniel Jones, got exiled after just 10 games last season and is now a legitimate candidate for MVP this year, as he has his Indianapolis Colts at 7-1 and balling out like he’s never balled out before, that’s a fair question. But this story isn’t about Daboll’s current or former “franchise” quarterback.  It’s about the one who sliced and diced his secondary for four touchdowns versus no picks on 15/20 passing and 179 yards last Sunday.

In The Beginning

If you study greatness, it’s not just the highlight reels that tell the story, it’s the evolution.  For Jalen Hurts, that evolution started long before the MVP-level numbers, the spotless stat lines, or the sold-out Sundays at Lincoln Financial Field. It began back in Tuscaloosa in 2017, when a former New England Patriots assistant named Brian Daboll introduced a 19-year-old Hurts to the language of pro football and helped build the quarterback we’re watching rewrite history today.

Daboll’s Blueprint

After Lane Kiffin implemented his explosive spread attack in 2016, Alabama head coach Nick Saban brought in Daboll to modernize the Crimson Tide offense. Hurts was coming off a 14–1 season as a true freshman but needed refinement as a passer and Daboll delivered.

He installed a Patriots-style passing tree that included route progressions, option reads and pre-snap coverage IDs, the kind of system that forces a young QB to learn patience, processing, and precision.

“It was really the first part of his development,” Daboll told the Philadelphia Inquirer years later. “We installed the Patriots passing attack… it was his first time reading pure progressions. All the things you’re seeing him do now in the NFL.”

That 2017 season was bumpy. Hurts was efficient (17 TDs, 1 INT) but was often criticized for conservative throws. When he was benched at halftime of the national championship game for Tua Tagovailoa, the world saw a quarterback replaced in the biggest moment and on the biggest stage of his career. What they missed was a leader refined, a player learning to think like a pro, not just to play like an athlete.

Hurts later called Daboll “the first coach who really taught me NFL football.” The structure, the reads, the demand for accountability, that all became his mental foundation. Everything else since has been built on that foundation.

Nine Different Coordinators in 10 Seasons

From that point on, Hurts’ journey became a masterclass in adaptability. Few quarterbacks in football history have endured more offensive transitions, and for the most part, thrived through every one.

That’s nine different systems in 10 seasons, and Hurts hasn’t flinched once. Most quarterbacks spend a decade mastering one playbook. Hurts has mastered nine. Each reset forced him to become fluent in a new offensive language, cultivate chemistry with new play-callers, and rebuild timing and rhythm from scratch, all while winning and winning big.  His adaptability and consistency is now his superpower.

The Scoreboard Never Lies

Through eight games this season, Hurts has posted some serious off-the hook numbers.

• 70% completion rate, 15 touchdowns, and one interception. Only Drew Brees (2018) has ever matched that efficiency over an eight-game stretch.

• In his last two games, Hurts has completed 79% of his passes with seven touchdown passes and no interceptions for 507 yards. He’s the first Eagles quarterback to put up those numbers in a two-game span and only the eighth in NFL history, a group that also includes Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Joe Montana. 

• His 155.2 passer rating against the Vikings and Giants is 2nd-highest by an Eagles QB in a two-game span, just behind Nick Foles’ 155.3 against the Raiders and Packers in 2013. 

• His 114.4 passer rating is the highest by any Eagles QB through eight games in franchise history.
• Hurts has gone 12 straight home games without an interception, tying Aaron Rodgers for the longest streak in NFL history (minimum 20 attempts per game).
• Hurts has gone 26 consecutive games with one or fewer INTs, the longest active streak in football.
• Career record: 52–22 in 74 starts. Only Patrick Mahomes, Ken Stabler, Roger Staubach, Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Daryle Lamonica, and Russell Wilson had more wins through 74 games.
• 159 total touchdowns (99 passing, 60 rushing) in 79 career starts.

Those aren’t just MVP numbers. Those are video game numbers for a guy who doesn’t possess video game intangibles.

From Structure to Superior

Daboll began teaching Hurts to read full-field progressions, trust timing windows, and operate from the pocket, something that current USC head coach Lincoln Riley refined at Oklahoma. What Shane Steichen, Nick Sirianni, Kellen Moore, Brian Johnson and now Kevin Patillo have done in Philadelphia is simply build layers of freedom on top of that discipline.

Hurts’ game today is a paradox – a pro-style precision in a dual-threat body. Hurts is cerebral but unshaken, analytical yet instinctive, freakishly calm under duress and patient with progressions, all of it traces back to the groundwork laid by Daboll’s NFL system eight years ago.

“I’ve been coached hard my whole life,” Hurts once said. “And I appreciate it because it prepared me for moments like this.”

Moments like this when he’s rewriting record books, defying turnover odds, and carrying a team and city on his back reveal what that early struggle he dealt with ultimately built inside him.

The Truth

Nine coordinators in 10 seasons would’ve broken most quarterbacks. But Jalen Hurts isn’t built like most quarterbacks.  Every system sharpened him and every scheme gave him a new weapon for his arsenal.

Randall Cunninham told me recently that his coaching carousel, that included four different head coaches and three different offensive coordinators in his 11 seasons with the Eagles, was a lot of turnover.  It pales in comparison to the ever-changing systems that Hurts has had to endure yet master almost annually since he was a freshman at Alabama.

When you blend the tactical foundation Brian Daboll installed, with the leadership, discipline, and calm, cool and collected swagger Huhas rts developed since, you get a quarterback who’s not just elite for a season, but engineered for sustained greatness for a potential Hall-of-Fame career.

Lions' chances of landing the perfect trade target might be better than you think

After stumbling out of the gates to begin the 2025 NFL campaign, the Detroit Lions are who we thought they were: Super Bowl LX contenders. However, at this rate, their struggles in the secondary could prevent them from winning when it matters most.

The Lions need defensive back help, even with the looming returns of All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph and 2024 first-round cornerback Terrion Arnold. Knowing this, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Matt Bowen list Detroit as a fit for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen, who reportedly might be available.

Acquiring someone of Woolen's caliber may sound like a pipe dream to Lions fans, though it ostensibly isn't as far-fetched as perceived; have faith, Detroit! Fowler and Bowen give Woolen a 50 percent chance of getting dealt ahead of the league's Nov. 4 trade deadline.

Lions' odds of landing Seahawks CB Riq Woolen could be better than Detroit fans expect

Woolen's inconsistencies are partly why he's being floated as someone who could be on the move in the coming days. Nevertheless, upon seeing the highs and the lows, it feels fair to say the upside is worth chasing. Fowler and Bowen would seemingly agree, considering he's No. 4 among their 25 "best possible trade candidates."

Coin flip odds to get rerouted, with the Lions being mentioned as one of four prospective suitors? While Fowler and Bowen's words aren't gospel, execs have "earmarked [him] as a strong trade candidate leading into the deadline," the former wrote. The Detroit faithful will certainly take those chances.

At his best, Woolen has functioned as an elite playmaking ball hawk. He was one of just four players to record six interceptions as a rookie in 2022, including a pick-six, and added 16 pass deflections. His immediate breakout culminated in a Pro Bowl nod and third-place Defensive Rookie of the Year finish.

It's been an up-and-down experience for Woolen in Seattle since bursting onto the scene as a pro, to say the least. He's in the final season of his rookie contract and is a candidate to walk in free agency this offseason. The head coach who drafted him is no longer with the Seahawks. Put it all together, and it's easy to envision the two sides going their separate ways, and Detroit is arguably the ideal landing spot.

Fowler argues that "Woolen would be best served going to a team that can use his man-coverage traits." Well, the Lions drop back in man coverage at the fourth-highest rate in football through their first seven games (h/t Fantasy Points' data suite [$]).

Continue reading