The New York Giants wrapped up one of the worst seasons in franchise history with their 14th loss on Sunday — the most losses in a single season in franchise history.
For many fans of the team, the Giants’ 20-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles’ backups was only the first defeat of the week.
On Monday, New York team president John Mara announced he would be retaining general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, the chief architects of the Giants’ current predicament.
“As disappointing as the results of the season have been, [team chairman Steve] Tisch and I remain confident in the process that Joe and Brian have implemented and their vision for our team,” Mara said in the statement.
Mara added Monday, while speaking with reporters, that he expects Schoen’s and Daboll’s turnaround to be quick.
“Better not take too long, because I’ve just about run out of patience,” Mara said.
In some ways, Daboll and Schoen are victims of their own success.
After a stint as the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator — during which time Daboll was considered a key player in the improvement of now-perennial MVP candidate Josh Allen — New York hired Daboll in 2022 to bring more out of struggling quarterback Daniel Jones.
And Daboll did exactly that. He won Coach of the Year largely for coaxing out the best season of Jones’ career. The Giants started the 2022 season 7-2 and even won a road playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Schoen, as a result of Daboll’s success with Jones, rewarded the quarterback with a four-year, $160 million contract in 2023. And that’s when the team’s problems began.
Jones played in only six games last season due to injuries, and he wasn’t very good when he was on the field. He posted the worst passer rating and QBR of his career in 2023, and threw only two touchdowns compared with six interceptions.
New York won only six games, and in addition to losing his quarterback magic, Daboll began to butt heads with his defensive coaching staff.
This summer, the Giants were featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” and the behind-the-scenes look at their roster decisions haunted the team all year. In the show, it’s revealed that Schoen didn’t re-sign star running back Saquon Barkley in part because of the money New York committed to Jones.
“You’re paying [Jones] $40 million. It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back,” Schoen says during a meeting with other front office members.
Barkley signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and had the eighth-most rushing yards in a season ever. Jones started only 10 games before he was cut less than two years into his new contract. And since the 7-2 start in 2022, the Giants are 12-31-1.
(Also on “Hard Knocks,” Mara is shown saying, “I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia, I’ll tell you that.”)
Now, was retaining Barkley the difference between a terrible or great season for New York? Almost certainly not. The Giants ultimately still need to sort out the quarterback position, which they are positioned to do in April’s NFL draft.
New York will have the third overall pick (made worse in part because of a late-season win over the Indianapolis Colts), which means they could have a chance at selecting quarterbacks such as the Miami Hurricanes’ Cam Ward or the Colorado Buffaloes’ Shedeur Sanders.
If Daboll can develop another signal-caller, then the Giants could look like geniuses for keeping him and Schoen around. (Schoen did hit his 2024 first-round pick out of the park with receiver Malik Nabers, who broke the franchise record for receptions in his rookie season.)
But can Daboll and Schoen — who seemingly need to win in the short term to keep their jobs — be trusted with the long-term direction of the franchise in a pivotal offseason? They’ll have to be much more successful in the next few months than they’ve been on the field the last two years.