New York Giants beat reporter Jordan Raanan of ESPN wrote a feature piece on Thursday, “The fall of the Brian Daboll era,” after the Giants fired Daboll on Monday and named offensive coordinator Mike Kafka as the interim head coach.
Among the interesting details in the article was the explanation of an anonymous Giants player claiming that Daboll went off at Kafka and threatened to take away playcalling duties after tight end Theo Johnson dropped a pass during a game vs the Philadelphia Eagles.
One player recently told ESPN of Daboll exploding and threatening to take away playcalling from assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Kafka after tight end Theo Johnson dropped a crucial third-down pass downfield against the Eagles. The Giants denied Daboll yelled at Kafka and threatened to revoke his play calling responsibilities.
Giants legend Tiki Barber sounded off about that part of that tidbit, referring to the anonymous player as “a little b*tch” during Thursday’s edition of Evan & Tiki on WFAN.
Tiki went off on the anonymous Giants player who leaked details on a Brian Daboll/Mike Kafka dust-up: pic.twitter.com/18N8Gw6yIW
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) November 13, 2025
“What I find interesting is what motivated a player on the current roster to say to a reporter, ‘I’ve got something for you,'” co-host Evan Roberts began. “”Let me tell you about the time Daboll exploded on Kafka because of a Theo Johnson drop.'”
“I don’t know what that does for the player, other than make you look like a little b*tch,” Barber said. “What the hell does that have to do with anything? How he handles his emotions with another coach has nothing to do with you. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Now, if it’s a player who’s talking about him talking a certain way to a player, I get it. But that doesn’t make any sense to me, why a player would release that and make it feel like- what’s the benefit?”
“He’s gone,” Barber added. “Why crap on a guy when he’s gone? It’s like petty.”
“And he’s also gone for the most obvious reason- they didn’t win,” Roberts said.”
“Exactly,” Barber responded. “That’s all that matters.”
That’s indeed the reality behind Daboll being fired. The Giants simply didn’t win enough over his four years with the organization, putting together a 20-40 record in that time and a 2-8 record in 2025. Had the Giants won a lot of games, few would care that Daboll yelled at an assistant coach, which is the sort of thing that happens from time to time on a football sideline. And to Barber’s point, it’s weird for a player to leak that to a reporter.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.