The New York Giants want to believe their head-coaching opening is a desirable one that any top candidate in the upcoming hiring cycle will have interest in.
Remember what GM Joe Schoen, who may or may not
keep his job, said a few weeks ago? He said that head coach of the Giants “will be an attractive job for many coaches,” and that “The calls we’ve gotten, I think we’re going to be able to fill the job.”
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell doesn’t seem convinced that candidates will be lining up for the job quite the way the Giants envision. In a post ranking the eight jobs he thinks “might” come open at season’s end, Barnwell ranked the Giants’ vacancy No. 5. His list:
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Arizona Cardinals
- Cleveland Browns
- Tennessee Titans
- Giants
- Atlanta Falcons
- Miami Dolphins
- Las Vegas Raiders
Now, let’s dissect some of Barnwell’s reasons for putting the Giants firmly in the middle of his list.
Barnwell writes:
Coaches were expected to be thrilled at the possibility of working with Jaxson Dart, who got off to a promising start during his rookie season. Dart wasn’t winning many games, but his competitiveness, mobility and big-play ability made him an immediate fan favorite alongside fellow rookie Cam Skattebo, who was lost for the year with a serious ankle injury.
But Dart’s inability to avoid big hits and injuries is quickly becoming concerning. Sunday was the fifth time in 10 starts that he has been forced to leave the game to undergo a concussion evaluation, and he missed losses to the Packers and Lions. Kafka has taken the designed quarterback runs that the Giants leaned on early in Dart’s tenure out of the playbook. Removing scrambles, sneaks and kneel-downs from the equation, Dart had 24 designed runs in his seven starts before his concussion, per NFL Next Gen Stats. That has dropped to three over the two starts he has made since missing time.
Without his role in the quarterback run game, it’s unclear whether Dart is really as promising of a quarterback as he might have seemed.
Valentine’s View:
What, precisely, has Dart done wrong in the two games he has played since returning from his concussion that would make his stock drop in the eyes of potential coaching candidates?
Dart has completed 37 of 60 passes (61.7%) with three touchdowns and an interception in losses to the Patriots and Commanders. Is it Dart’s fault Jalin Hyatt can’t run a proper in-cut? Or that Darius Slayton dropped a touchdown pass he had both hands on? Or that the Giants can’t make a field goal? Or tackle a punt returner?
If anything, in my eyes Dart is showing that he can play quarterback without also having to play running back.
I don’t know what sort of NFL quarterback Dart will turn out to be. I do know that NFL Draft analysts are already saying he would be the No. 1 quarterback in the 2026 class, and thus the No. 1 overall pick. Yes, he had a concussion. Yes, he needs to continue to learn to protect himself for the long-term good of his career.
If you aren’t excited about working with Dart and finding out what the ceiling is with him, then you aren’t the head coach the Giants need or should want in the first place.
Barnwell also has this to say about the elephant in the room — Schoen:
The other issue is general manager Joe Schoen, whom ownership backed as part of the future when it fired Daboll in midseason. Schoen’s top-100 selections have been mixed at best during his time in New York, with major disappointments like Evan Neal and Deonte Banks joining the organization as first-round picks. Schoen oversaw the decisions to move on from Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney in free agency before the 2024 season, one year after the Giants elected to sign Daniel Jones to a four-year contract and use the franchise tag on Barkley.
There have been positives, of course. Nabers and Abdul Carter look like potential building blocks on both sides of the ball, and they’re in the middle of rookie contracts. The offensive line is in better shape than it had been over the past few years, although that’s an extremely low bar. Dart and Skattebo have the potential to be playmakers, though they’ll have to change their playing styles to stay healthy.
More than anything, though, the decision to retain Schoen and hire a new coach creates different timelines within the organization. Schoen and Daboll were hired together from Buffalo at the same time. There were no questions, at least for their first three years together, about whether they were compatible or working together. Schoen and Daboll each took their jobs in North Jersey knowing that the other guy wanted them in the building.
Now? That’s up in the air. Schoen will obviously hire someone he feels compatible with, but if the Giants decide to move on from Schoen in 2027 or 2028, it would create another mismatched timeline between the coach they hire now and the next general manager. Will that new personnel executive want to hire his own coach? Will the Giants just fire this next coach, as they (deservedly) did with Joe Judge after two seasons, so the next general manager can enter the building with his handpicked guy? Will there be more pressure on the next coach to succeed in a shortened time frame as a result? And if Dart proves to be a disappointment or can’t stay healthy, will this next coach get to go after the next quarterback?
Valentine’s View:
Much of what Barnwell writes here is accurate. If you want to poke holes in Schoen’s work with the Giants, you don’t need a magnifying glass. Mention his 20-44-1 won-loss record, drop the names Daniel Jones, Saquon Barkley, Neal, and Banks, and throw in what ‘Hard Knocks’ looked like a couple of offseasons ago, toss in the word “placekicker”, and that’s a pretty good start.
Other than the won-loss record, though, everything has nuance. I’m not going to go through chapter and verse of each decision but many were thought to be proper at the time they were made. Still, the results are the results.
One thing Barnwell has wrong, though. Schoen is NOT picking the next coach. He is doing the early leg work to find out who may and may not be interested, and probably handling whatever early vetting goes on before candidates are brought in for interviews once the season ends.
Ownership more or less stepped aside and let Schoen hire his coach — Daboll — in 2022. That is not how Giants ownership has usually done things, and I would venture a guess that Daboll might not have been the choice if John Mara had not allowed his new GM to drive the bus on that decision.
Schoen is not getting that sort of say this time around. Ownership will make this decision. Schoen will have to make it work, if he is still employed. Schoen will have influence, if he still has a key card. So, too, will Tim McDonnell, Mara’s nephew and the team’s Director of Player Personnel, and Chris Mara, John’s brother. Steve Tisch will have his say.
Schoen hired “his” coach once. I can’t imagine the Giants stepping aside and letting him do it again.
I do believe in the principle that the head coach and general manager should ideally be on the same timeline. And, yes, I can see a scenario where someone like Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh, if they were available, would demand to bring a hand-picked general manager.
Bottom line is, though, that I don’t see any reason why the Giants’ vacancy would not be thought of as desirable.
