Say this for New York Giants fans: The team’s dreadful season hasn’t dampened your interest in the team. The first mailbag of the offseason is overflowing.
There were so many questions that I divided my responses into two parts. Today, I’ll tackle the ownership, general manager and coaching queries. On Friday, I’ll address questions on the roster.
(Editor’s note: Questions have been edited for clarity.)
How can the Giants solve its John Mara problem? Mara is the central issue, far more than a Joe Schoen/Brian Daboll/coordinator one. — Steven B.
Mara isn’t going anywhere. You may have heard the Giants have been the family business for the past 100 years. Unlike fellow owners, Mara doesn’t have other business ventures to occupy his time, so he’s fully invested in being the president and CEO of the Giants. I know that’s distressing to many fans, but it’s the reality of the situation. And there are no indications Mara’s level of involvement will change.
So, the key will be finding the right general manager/head coach combination and hoping that duo can lead the organization to the heights it has previously reached under this ownership structure. The past 13 years have demonstrated that won’t be easy to do.
All the criticism of ownership is centered on Mara. What input does Steve Tisch have? Is he just a silent partner? Has he ever been asked about Mara family members having key front office roles? — Tom H.
Silent partner is a good term to describe Tisch. Unlike Mara, Tisch isn’t in the team’s facility every day. And he does have outside business interests.
Just look at the major meeting with Schoen and Daboll about their futures before the season finale: They met only with Mara, who then spoke to Tisch separately. The fact that Tisch wasn’t even present to hear the plan directly from Schoen and Daboll speaks volumes. And that’s consistent with his role in head-coaching interviews and other major meetings in the past.
As for asking Tisch questions about the roles of the Mara family (or any other topics), he hasn’t spoken publicly about the Giants since Joe Judge’s introductory news conference five years ago.
Is anybody on this coaching staff or front office going to be fired? Seems ridiculous everybody would be safe after a three-win season. — Jordan B.
It is remarkable to step back and process that continuity is the emphasis after arguably the worst season in franchise history. It certainly appeared defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was in jeopardy after Mara’s postseason criticisms (more on Bowen below), but there are no indications any changes are coming.
In a way, this approach makes sense. After keeping Schoen and Daboll, firing their underlings would be scapegoating. If ownership believes in Schoen and Daboll, let them run it back with the staffs they’ve built.
It’s possible the Giants could approve an assistant departure as new coaching staffs get assembled around the league, but any firings would have happened by now. As for the front office, those changes typically don’t happen until after the draft, although the Giants are reportedly letting executive advisor to the GM Ryan Cowden leave for a more prominent role with the New England Patriots.
How does Mara expect fans to believe in the Schoen-Daboll regime when he admitted the roster isn’t better than when they took over? — Patrick S.
That was tough to swallow, but to Mara’s credit, he answered the question honestly. It would have been worse to try to spin how the roster of this three-win team is better than the roster of the four-win team Schoen and Daboll inherited.
The lack of progress after three years is justifiably fueling fans’ lack of belief in this regime. Mara said he has faith, but that mostly feels like blind faith because there isn’t much tangible evidence to point to.
Why is it that Mara cannot understand a good hiring process can lead to employees who just do not work out? — Daniel G.
I appreciate the simplicity of this question. The presence of ownership in front office roles and Mara’s meddling absolutely could be the reason for the state of the franchise. But it’s also at least possible Schoen and Daboll just aren’t equipped to succeed in their roles.
To rewind, the low point from a hiring perspective during this stretch of futility was the sham GM search that led to Dave Gettleman’s return late in 2017. That move was all about keeping the GM position in the “family.” Meanwhile, the first three coaching hires post-Tom Coughlin were uninspiring.
In 2022, the Giants did it right. Ownership went outside of its comfort zone to hire Schoen. Then Daboll, who was a coveted head-coaching candidate, was hired. But the right process can still lead to poor results. Maybe that’s because of the overwhelming influence of ownership. Or maybe Schoen and Daboll just aren’t good at these incredibly challenging jobs that have an exceptionally high failure rate.
That’s why I didn’t buy into the fears of not being able to find upgrades if the Giants made changes after the season. This regime is 9-25 over the past two seasons. This whole endeavor is pointless if ownership doesn’t believe it’s possible to do better than that.
GO DEEPER
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How can John Mara possibly rationalize that his GM, whom he more or less said has one year left to turn the ship around, won’t take short-term risks trying to win in 2025 that will jeopardize the future of the team? — Robert C.
This is the “Hail Mary” prism everything will be viewed through this offseason. Schoen said he won’t act out of self-preservation. But how will we truly know his motives?
The Giants’ quarterback pursuit will be telling. How much they spend on a veteran quarterback will be the first important data point. I don’t think they can go with a cheap caretaker like Jacoby Brissett. The pressure to win figures to lead to a proven veteran starter. Those aren’t cheap.
The approach to drafting a quarterback should be even more revealing. Will they force a QB with the third pick? Will they trade up for one? These questions will hover over the offseason.
Otherwise, short of trading future draft picks for veterans or signing free agents to ridiculous contracts, don’t expect moves that blatantly jeopardize the future. Still, Schoen figures to be more aggressive than earlier in his tenure when he had more job security. How could he not be?
Do you think a reason Daboll hung onto his job is that Giants brass realized how undesirable the job would have been for top candidates when considering the poor state of the organization and the fact that the GM is hanging on by a thread, too? — Dan Y.
I do think this played a part in Daboll’s return. All of those late-season reports about Daboll and Schoen not being a package deal didn’t originate from thin air.
There have been reports about the Giants putting out feelers in the coaching market. I don’t know the specifics of those conversations, but if there were indications top potential targets wouldn’t be interested in the job, that could have helped spare Daboll.
If the Giants were committed to keeping Schoen, that would have limited the pool of coaching candidates. You can see that already with Mike Vrabel, who was arguably the top coach on the market, immediately taking control in New England. It’s unlikely he would have been interested in reporting to an authoritative GM.
What’s Daboll’s motivation to keep Bowen given the defensive liability we were in most major stat categories before, during and after all the injuries? That was literally about as boring and lifeless D I’ve seen in a while. — Scott P.
I can’t argue with Scott’s characterization, so don’t expect a vigorous defense of Bowen here. But I don’t think it would have been fair for Bowen to take the fall when Daboll’s offense was so much worse than the defense.
Optics are always a part of Daboll’s operation, and it wouldn’t have been a good look for him to be on his third defensive coordinator in three years. Now, Daboll wouldn’t stick with Bowen strictly based on optics. But there was probably an understanding that the search that led to Bowen’s hiring was challenging, so it likely would have been similarly difficult to land a top DC target this offseason. Retaining Bowen at least provides continuity for players, and that fits with the offseason theme of keeping the band together.
The spectacular Washington rebuild very likely will lock the Giants in the divisional cellar for the rest of this decade. Compare please: What did the Commanders do right that the Giants did wrong? — Brian G.
Right and wrong is subjective, but the difference is obvious: The Commanders changed everything. They even made the ownership change so many Giants fans are seeking.
That organization-wide turnover is why it didn’t make sense for Schoen and Daboll proponents to point to Washington’s success with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels as evidence of a quick turnaround. Yes, the Commanders got a new quarterback. But they also hit reset at every other key position in their organization — owner, GM and head coach — and overhauled their roster. The Giants are hoping they can get the same effect from a QB change while keeping everything else the same.
While I understand this is unlikely given John Mara’s disdain for tanking, do you think there is any possibility Mara, up against a very difficult schedule, a roster in disarray and a GM/HC combo seemingly on their very last legs, has retained them expecting another rough season next year, resulting in another top draft pick in a class that seems very strong at QB (including possibly Arch Manning)? — Richard D.
This is the 3-D chess theory that has been floating around, but no, I don’t think that’s the case. The Giants mostly operate with the intention of maximizing their odds of success in each season (which makes the failures of the past decade that much more damning).
Mara’s disdain for tanking is very real. There’s no way he’d essentially punt on an entire season. So he must be convinced that with the right quarterback, the 2025 Giants will improve significantly and be on the path to contention despite the many factors working against them.
GO DEEPER
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What would a successful 2025 look like, specifically in terms of a season that sets the team up for sustainable success? — Stewart R.
Land the quarterback for the future. That might not solve everything as far as success in 2025, but as far as sustainable success, that’s the answer.
If Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward has a rookie season like Drake Maye’s, and the Giants have a similar season to the 4-13 Patriots, there would be a feeling that they’re on the right path, albeit with plenty of work to do. That leads to the final question. …
What would Daboll and Schoen need to do next season for Mara to keep them for a fifth season? With the schedule they have, it will be difficult to rack up wins. So what is success next year? — Patrick G.
The Giants fell far short of Mara’s vague preseason expectation of improvement this year, but Schoen and Daboll still survived. It’s hard to imagine they’ll be back for a fifth season without a major improvement in the team’s record. That doesn’t necessarily mean a playoff berth, but the Giants will need to be in the race with at least eight or nine wins and a rookie quarterback leading their success to justify another year for this regime.
(Photo of Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)
