A New Era In New York with a new GM Begins
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The New York Football Giants have entered a new era of their storied franchise by officially announcing Joe Schoen as their new General Manager and Senior Vice President on Friday. Joe Schoen (pronounced Shane) is hired to replace Dave Gettleman, who retired at the end of this season. Schoen wanted to be the Giants' next GM as he told them New York was his #1 choice. The 42 year old Schoen becomes the Giants' 5th general manager since 1979 when legendary GM George Young was hired (by the NFL).
Schoen released a statement on being hired as the GM of the Giants. “Now, the work begins. My immediate focus is to hire a head coach, with who I will work in lockstep with to create a collaborative environment for our football operations. We will cast a wide net, it can be former head coaches, first-time head coaches but, more importantly, it has to be a person who possesses the ability to lead an organization and the ability to motivate and develop players.”
Schoen was the favorite going into the GM search for the Giants. From the second Gettleman "retired" and after initial interviews with owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, Schoen quickly showed that he was a favorite throughout the process. The Giants consistently updated their website to show all the list of candidates who they were interviewing, and the long list was shortened to three names: Schoen, Adam Peters and Ryan Roles. Even Giants legendary head coach Bill Parcels was impressed with Schoen, saying “I was impressed with Joe because he was a sharp guy and he had a good thought process when it came to evaluating players.” In the end the Mara and Tisch family decided that Schoen was the guy to help turn this franchise around.
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Schoen has an impressive resume as he has spent 20 years in the NFL. He spent the last 5 years as the assistant GM for the Buffalo Bills. He's been with 4 organizations over his career including the Miami Dolphins as Director of Player Personnel. He has experience in the front office and as a college/pro scout. Schoen checks off a lot of boxes for the New York Giants. The only qualification that he doesn't have is as previous experience as a GM.
We all know the numbers that have plagued the Giants, 9 losing seasons in their last 10 seasons. Giants have missed the playoffs for five straight years, offensive deficiencies, etc. Schoen now has the monumental task of fixing the organization from top to bottom, selecting the right coach, and rebuilding a fractured roster. John Mara said that Schoen will have full authority to fix the whole organizational structure.
One of the first tasks for Schoen is to hire a head coach that can come in here and fix this team finally. Schoen wasted no time getting to work in interviewing Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. The Buffalo connection clearly is one of the strongest reasons why Daboll is getting an interview, other than the fact that he is super qualified. The job Daboll has done with Buffalo's offense and turning QB Josh Allen into a perennial MVP candidate has been impressive. Schoen also set up interviews with Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. The Giants have also requested interviews with Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. John Mara reportedly personally requested to speak with Flores about the head coaching position before Schoen was officially named the GM. There are other candidates we would love to see in the building, but this short list is a good start. Whoever Shane picks as his head coach needs to work hand in hand with him and fixing this roster and turning this into a winning franchise.
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Schoen inherits a salary cap hell that sees the Giants over the cap by 3 million with players locked up to big contracts. Cuts will be coming, and that will be some of the tougher decisions that Schoen will have to make. Having five picks in the first three rounds is huge for the Giants and their needs are apparent: offensive line, edge rusher and linebacker. How Schoen chooses to navigate the first three rounds will be a huge telling of the future of this organization. There's also questions about Daniel Jones, is he the Giants future franchise quarterback? Schoen has to decide in the next few months if Jones is the guy, if he will go into the draft to find his future quarterback or will make a huge splash in free agency / trade market.
Joe Schoen inherits a huge mess left by Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge, enabled by the Mara and Tisch families. He has a laundry list of to do's, but Giants fans for the first time in over 5 years are hopeful that this is the right hire. We have hope and optimism that Shane can come and restore this franchise to their former glory. Only time will tell how long it will take, Giants fans have patience if we're moving in the right direction.
