With two games remaining in a historically miserable season for the New York Giants, the big question is whether general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll will keep their jobs once it’s over. A report from NFL Network insiders Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport indicates that is still to be determined.
Their newly-released report indicates that Giants co-owner John Mara “hasn’t made” his decision yet.
Mara believes both men are highly capable. He remembers just two years ago when Daboll and Schoen were the toast of the town and the Giants won a playoff game at Minnesota during Super Wild Card Weekend. Even this season could have gone differently if they’d finished games early, before injuries struck, the losses mounted, and the team released quarterback Daniel Jones after he was benched in November.
The prevailing sense in league circles is that Mara doesn’t want to make changes. He said as much in October when the Giants were 2-5, telling reporters attending the premiere of an NFL Films piece on his father that Wellington Mara preached patience — but the Giants haven’t won a game since those comments.
Mara isn’t deaf to fan frustration, evidenced by recent crowds and planes flying banners overhead urging him to “fire everyone.” But he ultimately must do the right thing for the Giants, not the environment surrounding them.
While Schoen and Daboll were hired the same year from the same team in Buffalo, they aren’t necessarily a package deal. Mara evaluates the entire football operation when each season ends, and his head coach and GM will be evaluated on their own merits.
Valentine’s View
I have continually advocated either keeping both Schoen and Daboll or moving on from both rather than splitting up a duo that has consistently said since coming from the Buffalo Bills in 2022 that everything they do is collaborative.
There is, though, one thing we have not considered. Schoen and Daboll are friends. They are a pair. Schoen, though, is the boss. He is above the head coach on the organizational chart.
What if Schoen, after watching what has unfolded the past two seasons, has determined that the Giants have underachieved under Daboll’s leadership?
It was curious to see assistant general manager Brandon Brown front and center on the sidelines last week against the Atlanta Falcons, having a discussion with backup quarterbacks Tommy DeVito and Tim Boyle during the game. Brown wasn’t there because as Daboll said, there was no room for him in the press box or in a suite. He had to be there to get a feel for what was happening during the game with coaches and players. That harkened back to a year ago when Schoen admitted spending several games on the headsets listening to in-game communication between the coaches.
What if Schoen has decided that his friend’s temperament and communication with the assistant coaches isn’t conducive to winning?
Schoen wants to keep, and succeed, in his job. The way things have gone thus far with the Giants he would currently be unlikely to get a second opportunity elsewhere.
If the GM were to sign off on a change at head coach — and I don’t know whether he would or would not — that would change the equation.
