A lot of the talk around the New York Giants’ 2025 meltdown of epic proportions has centered on now-former head coach Brian Daboll, and for good reason. The G-Men have lost four straight, sit at 2-8 for the third time in three years, and have somehow blown double-digit leads in four separate road games. Hence, Daboll is getting canned.
Unfortunately for Giants fans, firing Dabs doesn’t fix everything. This team still has miles to go before it’s even close to competitive, and the same losing habits that have defined the franchise for years are still baked in. That part falls on general manager Joe Schoen, who survived, but whose job security is still hanging by the thinnest of threads.
While Big Blue stumbles aimlessly through another lost season, former NY quarterback Daniel Jones is out in Indianapolis living his best life — and maybe handing Schoen his walking papers in the process.
A year after leading the Giants (to a frustratingly familiar) 2-8 start, Danny Dimes has Indy in the complete opposite position — 8-2, sitting atop the AFC playoff picture and in prime position to enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed. And that's terrible news for the Giants' 46-year-old GM.
Daniel Jones' success with the Indianapolis Colts could heat Joe Schoen's seat faster than expected
No one’s arguing the Giants were wrong to move on from the 28-year-old — that decision made itself. The issue is what came next. Jones’ instant — and completely unprecedented — success with the Horseshoes is a massive indictment of Schoen’s ability to build a functional roster.
And with tensions at an all-time high, all it takes is a few more weeks of Indy looking like an actual football team to remind everyone just how far the G-Men still are from one.
Jones is in the middle of one of the greatest career resurgences the league has ever seen. After getting cut outright last season, Danny Dimes took his talents to the Minnesota Vikings' practice squad for a few weeks before signing with the Colts in March.
The Duke product is putting up numbers in half a season that would pass for a full year’s work back in East Rutherford: 2,659 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, seven interceptions, with 143 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.
So what gives?
Well, for one, Indy can actually keep Jones upright, anchored by a top-three offensive line. On top of that, they’ve surrounded him with one of the best receiver groups in football, headlined by Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, and Michael Pittman Jr. Add in rookie tight end Tyler Warren, who’s on pace for a thousand-yard debut season, and it’s everything Schoen could never come close to giving the former sixth overall pick back in 2019. But Colts' GM Chris Ballard did.
Ballard also understood the importance of having an elite ground game to support his quarterback — something Schoen actively took away from Jones by letting Saquon Barkley walk. Another knock against Big Blue’s exec. Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor is on pace for a near-2,000-yard, 25-touchdown season.
Indy’s GM has done everything Schoen couldn’t for Jones, unlocking him completely and putting a microscope on Schoen’s ability to build around rookie sensation Jaxson Dart — who, for what it’s worth, was Daboll’s pick in the first place.
Schoen’s future is riding on Dart working out. But if ownership looks about 700 miles west toward The Circle City, they’ll see a front office that actually understands team building. Either way, Jones’ breakout season has squarely put Daboll’s other, not fired yet, half in the hot seat.