Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll have been working together since 2018, when the latter arrived as Bills OC to start out the Josh Allen era. The quarterback’s rise placed each in position to work in leadership roles, and the Giants signed off on bringing the pair in to steer a rebuild. The Giants’ own QB plan has played the lead role in that rebuild not taking off.
Daniel Jones didn’t play well before a 2023 ACL tear doomed that Giants season, and the since-departed QB didn’t move back heading in the right direction in 2024. That called into query the Giants’ decision to pass on three QBs (Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix) at No. 6 overall last 12 months. Now, the team is amid one other deep dive right into a QB class — this one a lower-regarded contingent in comparison with 2024. How the Giants come out of this draft may play the largest role in determining how for much longer John Mara sticks together with his current regime.
Mara joined Jimmy Haslam in retaining each his team’s power brokers after a 3-14 season, however the Giants have trended downward since their surprising 2022 divisional-round appearance. That run his propping up a regime that has been unable to remotely approach that success level since. Entering Yr 4, the Schoen-Daboll partnership could also be seeing cracks emerge. Months after the HC and GM conducted separate press conferences — breaking from recent norms — on Black Monday, the Recent York Each day News’ Pat Leonard notes the 2 have veered closer to working as “separate entities.”
HC-GM disputes are commonplace within the NFL, especially amongst struggling teams, but when the Giants will not be currently aligned, fingers could point back at Mara for retaining this partnership when a momentous decision awaits. The Giants mistakenly gave Jones six seasons, despite most of that tenure producing unremarkable returns, and are still attempting to recuperate from selecting the incorrect Eli Manning successor. This offseason represents the Schoen-Daboll pair’s first probability to discover its own QB, but to date, a Russell Wilson–Jameis Winston duo headlines the depth chart. Giants will-they/won’t-they rumors regarding Shedeur Sanders are swirling, however the Colorado passer’s value may not align with the No. 3 overall draft slot.
Each Schoen and Daboll are at Colorado’s pro day today, per SI.com’s Albert Breer. This represents a course change for Daboll, who didn’t attend Miami’s pro day. Schoen said the fourth-year HC prefers to review QBs at private workouts, but after Leonard noted Daboll was not scheduled to trek to Boulder, his showing up — together with the GM, assistant GM Brandon Brown, OC Mike Kafka, DC Shane Bowen and player personnel director Tim McDonnell — is definitely notable. A seminal Sanders-or-Travis Hunter decision may await Big Blue at No. 3, provided the Browns pick Abdul Carter at 2. The Giants will not be understanding Sanders in Boulder, the Recent York Post’s Paul Schwartz adds, noting one could possibly be scheduled before the mid-April deadline.
A scenario through which Schoen and Daboll take a best-player-available route, by selecting Hunter or Carter, over Sanders is logical after Mara left two embattled decision-makers in charge. A job-preservation play would stand to be strongly considered, potentially forcing ownership to intervene.
Mara’s decision to retain each, quite than make one other quick-trigger firing, didn’t appear to satisfy all within the team’s constructing. Some hope existed on the front office and personnel levels, per Leonard, Mara would move on from Daboll after last season. We heard late last season Schoen and Daboll weren’t a package deal, and the owner has traditionally been more patient with GMs than HCs.
The 2022 Coach of the Yr took over play-calling duties last season, despite Kafka serving in that role for many of his first two years on the job, but Mara suggested his HC give the play sheet back to Kafka in January. Some uncertainty about whether Mara or Daboll suggested it emerged, because of Daboll’s comments. Schoen has not done well within the draft since taking up, seeing early-round picks Evan Neal, Joshua Ezeudu, Wan’Dale Robinson, Deonte Banks, John Michael Schmitz and Jalin Hyatt haven’t offered solutions just yet. But ownership, in Leonard’s view, appeared to put more of the blame on the Giants’ coaching.
Daboll and Schoen’s separate pressers in January caught considerable attention from those inside and outdoors the constructing, Leonard adds, and this will probably be a storyline to watch this offseason. Each decision-makers will probably be candidates for in-season firings should the Giants not show early-season signs of life.
