News broke Wednesday that John Harbaugh would be hired as the next head coach of the New York Giants, but then the deal continued to be, as they say, hammered out. There must have been a lot of hammers banging away at that thing, because the team’s official announcement was delayed for days. NFL insiders insisted that the deal hadn’t fallen through, only that Harbaugh was negotiating specific language before signing the contract. On Saturday, we finally figured out what he wanted: to make Giants general manager Joe Schoen less relevant.
Yesterday the Giants officially announced a five-year contract for Harbaugh, and with it a reworked hierarchy within the organization. Typically the franchise has had the head coach report to the GM, who then reports to the owners. In his previous job with the Baltimore Ravens, Harbaugh reported directly to owner Steve Bisciotti. Once this week’s deal was done, The Athletic confirmed that the new head coach will answer to owners John Mara and Steve Tisch:
Harbaugh had productive relationships with executives Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta during his time with the Ravens, and he said that’s the plan with Schoen. When asked who would have the final say in the NFL Draft if the two disagree, the 63-year-old coach said they will “do whatever it takes to get on the same page.”
“It will be the same as it was in Baltimore and really everywhere around the league,” Harbaugh said. “We’re going to work until we agree.”
That’s a nice way of saying that Harbaugh retains the right to tell the GM to pound sand. The Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll in November, but decided to retain Schoen at the end of their 4-13 season, although he’s currently in the final year of his contract. During the 2024 season, Schoen was best known as the guy who let Saquon Barkley walk and sign with the Philadelphia Eagles, who then won a Super Bowl with the running back. Making matters worse, his team was the focus of Hard Knocks at the time, so his strained conversation with Barkley was filmed and broadcast to the entire world. Before that whole saga, Schoen signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a flashy four-year deal, which ended up not even lasting two full seasons.
The Giants’ 2025 draft class may have allowed Schoen to regain a little job security: Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo were an intriguing QB-RB duo when they were healthy, and it’s hard to draw any conclusions on third overall pick Abdul Carter after one season, except that he should stop doing stuff that’ll get him benched. Malik Nabers, drafted sixth overall in 2024, looked like one of the league’s best receivers until he tore his ACL in September. There are certainly interesting pieces to work with here; the issue is the old coach didn’t do anything with them. At least Harbaugh won’t have the GM breathing down his neck as he gives it a try.
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