Brian Daboll’s bet with friend fueled Giants coach’s big weight loss

Brian Daboll claims that he once lost more than 100 pounds during a football season.

By that standard, the Giants’ head coach didn’t sound overly impressed with the way that he has transformed his own body since last season ended.

By any other measure, it is a remarkable physical makeover that he credits to making his competitive juices work in his favor.

“It started with the staff and the weight-loss challenge we did,” Daboll said.

But Daboll also made a second bet with a motorcycle-riding friend in a group of 30 or 40 people that he remains in touch from attending high school in the Buffalo area.

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He wasn’t about to lose twice.

“They kind of know my weight history, where it goes up and goes down,” Daboll said. “There was a season in Cleveland where I lost 112 pounds. I didn’t lose nearly that much [now], but last year I kind of lost a bet with one of my best friends.

“He had to kind of take care of things this year because that was the main goal — to beat him.”

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Just like in the spring, safety Dane Belton remained the starter over rookie second-round pick Tyler Nubin.

The same goes for CB Cor’Dale Flott over Tre Hawkins, who was one of the stars of last season’s camp as a rookie but was benched by Week 4.

Pointing to some of the high numbers on the Giants’ salary-cap ledger, general manager Joe Schoen said “it’s important to have those young contributors.”

Belton and Flott are two of 11 picks from Schoen’s first draft class in 2022. All still are on the roster, many in bigger roles than ever before.

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“I’m excited for those guys to watch them mature and get assimilated into the culture that we wanted to build here,” Schoen said. “And now they’re the flag bearers of how we want to do things when the next class comes in.”

Neither Schoen nor Daboll bit on setting any expectations for Year 3 of their regime.

“We have those conversations,” Daboll said, “but our mindset is we’re happy that today’s here. Start competing to see what our team is going to look like in 2024.”

Schoen said he has “great communication” daily with ownership.

“They understand where we are and what we’re trying to do,” he said. “We’re going to continue to build this thing.”

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