John Mara and Steve Tisch simply don’t get it.
That’s the only conclusion I can draw from Giants ownership’s ridiculous decision Monday to fire head coach Brian Daboll but retain general manager Joe Schoen.
While there are reports that Schoen isn’t out of the woods just yet — a lot can happen between now and the end of the season with seven games left on the 2-8 Giants’ schedule — ownership clearly has no intention of letting Schoen go.
Why else would the Giants write in their official release announcing Daboll’s firing that Schoen “will lead the search for a new head coach”?
“We feel like Joe has assembled a good young nucleus of talent, and we look forward to its development,” Mara said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the results over the past three years have not been what any of us want. We take full responsibility for those results and look forward to the kind of success our fans expect.”
With all due respect to Mara, who is battling cancer, there is no evidence to support that claim.
Let’s for now set aside the 2025 draft class, which is too early to evaluate. Between 2022 and 2024, Schoen drafted 24 players. Only one of them has proven to be a star, and that’s wide receiver Malik Nabers. Any armchair GM sitting on their couch in pajamas could’ve selected him sixth overall in 2024 based on mock drafts.
Two of his three other first-round picks, offensive lineman Evan Neal and cornerback Deonte Banks, have been complete busts. The third, outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, is a serviceable starter but certainly not a home run for someone who went seventh overall.
Among the remaining 20 players, only eight are currently a starter on this bad football team.
Does this sound like a GM who has “assembled a good young nucleus” over the last four years?
Even if ownership firmly believes that Schoen has drafted good players whom simply haven’t been coached properly, well, Schoen is the one who pinpointed Daboll as the head coach he wanted after spending four years together with the Bills. So why should Schoen be the one to pick another coach if Daboll is now being blamed for the current state of affairs?
Plus, Daboll is the one who coached the Giants to a playoff win in 2022, when Schoen had less imprint on the roster.
While Schoen does deserve credit for trading back into the first round this year to select Jaxson Dart, who so far looks like a legitimate franchise quarterback, Daboll is the one who loved Dart in scouting and pushed Schoen to get him.
Make no mistake: Daboll is not blameless in this debacle. Almost four seasons of job security is an eternity in the NFL with a rebuilding team, especially for someone who started 2-8 in three straight years. So many aspects of the on-field product were awful. His time was up.
But a team can both be poorly coached while also not having enough talent. Clearly the Giants had something cooking earlier this season when they were healthier and knocked off the Eagles, but depth issues caught up to them and abysmal fourth-quarter game management didn’t help.
The bottom line is that the Giants are 20 games under .500 under Schoen and 11-33 in the last three seasons. Sorry — the GM doesn’t get a pass for that.
Mara hasn’t spoken publicly since January and Schoen figures to not talk until the Giants’ bye week in early December, so for now we’re left to speculate on exactly what the front office thinks has gone wrong.
If Schoen is actually still on the hot seat, one possible viewpoint of ownership is that it wants to see what the Giants can do for these last seven games with Mike Kafka as the interim head coach.
This wouldn’t make sense for a couple reasons. If that’s the case, why announce that Schoen will lead the head coach search, which can’t really get underway until after the season anyway? And really, how much differently will the Giants be coached by Daboll’s leftover assistants?
Wide receiver Darius Slayton put it best in the locker room Wednesday when he told me that Kafka will have “small imprints” but no massive changes. The offseason is the time to overhaul your system. Winning a few games before then wouldn’t prove that Daboll’s overarching leadership was the sole problem.
The most likely explanation for Mara and Tisch firing Daboll and keeping Schoen right now is they knew they had to do something but didn’t want franchise upheaval.
Mara admitted in January that he’s tired of firing people, so rather than dump a coach for the fourth time and a GM for the third time in seven years, he took the most convenient route of patience … until now.
Firing a GM is even less convenient. It means having to fire executives and scouts along with him. It’s also easier to be swindled by the GM, who communicates with ownership more than the head coach does.
But a half-measure house cleaning is simply the wrong path for this unserious franchise that continues to repeat its mistakes of the past.
When the Giants forced head coach Tom Coughlin to resign in 2016, it wasn’t until almost two years later that GM Jerry Reese followed him out the door. The same thing happened in 2019, when the Giants fired head coach Pat Shurmur but kept GM Dave Gettleman for another two years. Yet the cycle of losing continued on and on.
It’s hard to envision sustained success any time soon, because Giants ownership just doesn’t get it.
Greg Johnson covers the New York Giants and NFL for MediaNews Group. Reach him at gjohnson@trentonian.com.
Giants Gameday
The Game: Packers (5-3-1) at Giants (2-8), MetLife Stadium, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (FOX)
The Line: Green Bay by 7
History: The Packers lead the all-time series, 34-28-2, but the Giants have won two in a row including most recently in 2023 at MetLife Stadium.
Key Matchups:
Giants LT Andrew Thomas/RT Jermaine Eluemunor vs. Packers DEs Micah Parsons/Rashan Gary: The Giants’ tackles must contain one of the NFL’s top pass-rushing tandems. Parsons and Gary have combined for 27 QB hits and 14 sacks.
Giants QB Jameis Winston vs. Packers pass defense: Green Bay allows the 11th-fewest passing yards per game (195.4) but the fewest per attempt (5.5). Winston will surely take some shots downfield in his first start for the Giants. His 104 interceptions in the last 10 years lead the NFL.
Giants run defense vs. Packers RB Josh Jacobs: Jacobs continues to be one of the best backs in football with 608 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. The Giants are tied with the Bills for the most yards allowed per rush (5.5).
Giants CB Paulson Adebo vs. Packers WR Christian Watson: The Giants’ top corner is trending toward a return from a knee injury and will be largely tasked with slowing down Watson, who has 188 receiving yards in three games after returning from a torn ACL.
Injury Report:
Giants: OUT: QB Jaxson Dart (concussion), WR Darius Slayton (hamstring), OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder), OT Evan Neal (hamstring), DL Chauncey Golston (neck); DOUBTFUL: S Tyler Nubin (neck), DL Rakeem Nuñez-Roches (toe); QUESTIONABLE: ILB Bobby Okereke (shoulder), CB Paulson Adebo (knee).
Packers: OUT: CB Nate Hobbs (knee); QUESTIONABLE: WR Matthew Golden (shoulder), DL Lukas Van Ness (foot), WR Savion Williams (foot).
Giant Facts: Mike Kafka is the Giants’ first interim head coach since Steve Spagnuolo took over for the final four games in 2017 after Ben McAdoo got fired. … Jaxson Dart is the only rookie QB since at least 1950 to record 2+ offensive touchdowns in each of his first seven career starts, but now he is out with a concussion. … The Giants’ red-zone defense is the second-worst in the NFL (70.59% opponent touchdown rate).
The Prediction: Packers 20, Giants 17
