It was a long and sometimes dreadful race, but the New York Giants finally did the unthinkable by making John Harbaugh their next head coach late last night. The excitement has struck the fanbase like wildfire, and it feels like the Giants have hope for the first team since Brian Daboll was hired.
The Giants pulled out all the stops to land Harbaugh and made their pursuit impossible to ignore. In the end, they won out. They originally cast a wide net, but ESPN's Jordan Ranaan revealed on the Giants Nation podcast with Bobby Skinner that, once the Super Bowl-winning coach was fired, he shot to the top of New York's coaching wishlist.
"The second John Harbaugh became available, he was their top option. He was their number one choice."
This report doesn't necessarily unearth anything groundbreaking, but it proves just how committed ownership was to make this happen. Joe Schoen is on the hot seat, so they know they had to take a massive swing to rewrite the narrative, but Harbaugh isn't just a big swing—he's a home-run hire, too.
Jordan Ranaan reveals that John Harbaugh was always the Giants' top choice
The 63-year-old took the Ravens to the playoffs in 12 of his 18 seasons at the helm and six of the last eight years, so it's no surprise he was coveted. He was the belle of the ball on the head coaching market this offseason, which required the Giants to really pony up to make this one happen.
Ranaan also revealed that when there was talk about Harbaugh being fired by the Ravens, the Giants were taking note of the situation. They knew the fit in New York would have been perfect after years with no culture, so they were ready to pounce when he actually was fired after their Week 18 loss.
"The Giants were prepared... This was something that was kind of hinted to me by other people around the league... the story was 'hey, you know, I think Harbaugh might end up getting fired in Baltimore ... that relationship might run its course.' The Giants are aware. My understanding, they were doing their preparation."
Even a few reports were floating him as a dream candidate as soon as Brian Daboll was fired, but that's when there was less clarity about his future in Baltimore. But as things went awry as the season went on, a candidate who was once looked at as a pipe dream actually became a reality.
And now that he's here, this team actually could make noise in the NFC going forward. He's likely to bring a coaching staff focused on helping Jaxson Dart develop, and his work with this young roster will finally bring hope to Giants football in 2026 and beyond.
Schoen and John Mara may not be the most popular men among Giants fans, but you have to commend both their preparedness and their ability to capitalize on what they knew was a dream scenario by fending off multiple other teams to get a deal done with Harbaugh.