The New York Giants' 2024 season was an unmitigated disaster, and apparently, it wasn’t just fans on X (formerly Twitter) taking notice.
According to ESPN, an anonymous source familiar with the Giants' internal operations didn’t hold back when describing general manager Joe Schoen and the rest of the front office's approach to roster management, saying, “It’s like they make moves off Twitter.”
Ouch. For a team tied for the worst record in the league, that quote stings even more. Sure, fans have been screaming into the void—or taking their frustrations to the sky—about questionable decisions since Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll arrived, but for someone within the NFL circle to verbalize what we’ve all been thinking? Chef’s kiss. That’s the kind of validation we didn’t need, but we’ll take for sure.
What makes the comment even more damning is the timing. It came as ESPN’s Jordan Raanan exposed some of the Giants’ most egregious missteps—like the ill-fated Joshua Ezeudu-at-tackle experiment that only Twitter trolls could’ve predicted would end poorly.
Did Schoen really base his decision-making process on a trending hashtag? Probably not. But the fact that someone even joked about it tells you all you need to know.
What is Joe Schoen's strategy?
The implication here is that the Giants’ front office is reactive, not proactive. And honestly, looking at the 2024 season, it tracks.
The Giants let Saquon Barkley walk to the Eagles, who promptly became the ninth player in NFL history to rush for over 2,000 yards. Meanwhile, the Giants’ run game averaged 3.4 yards per carry. Twitter would’ve told you Barkley was irreplaceable, but apparently, Schoen needed to see it unfold in real time.
Then there’s the Ezeudu debacle. Drafted as a guard in 2022, Ezeudu found himself miscast as a tackle when Andrew Thomas went down midseason. His struggles were so glaring that the Giants benched him for Chris Hubbard—someone plucked from the 49ers’ practice squad.
By the end of the year, Ezeudu was back at guard, which—we're assuming—is where Twitter would have had him all along. Then there's the Evan Neal debacle. He clearly and consistently shows he isn't ready for primetime, yet here the Giants are, throwing him out there on the right side of the line to be a glorified subway turnstile.
And let’s not even start on the quarterback carousel. Between Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito, Tim Boyle, and Daniel Jones' ill-fated $160 million contract, Giants fans endured the kind of whiplash that only Madden franchise mode could replicate. At least he's not literally using Madden to run the franchise, unlike other front offices. If Schoen wasn’t crowd-sourcing his decisions, he sure fooled us.
The league source’s comment might be tongue-in-cheek, but it underscores a deeper issue: a lack of clear vision. Whether it’s mishandling player development (see: Ezeudu, Neal, there's more, but you get it) or failing to communicate roles to veterans (shoutout to Nick McCloud), the Giants seem perpetually stuck in damage control mode. When you’re constantly scrambling to fix self-inflicted wounds, it’s no wonder people think your strategy is guided by memes.
Schoen’s defenders might point to his 2022 draft class or Daboll’s Coach of the Year win that same season, but good luck convincing a fanbase that’s endured a 9-25 stretch since. The G-Men have gone from a feel-good playoff run in 2022 to an unwatchable mess in 2024, and blaming Twitter won’t cut it.
At the end of the day, the Giants don’t need a social media manager in the front office—they need a GM who can see the forest for the trees. Because whether Schoen’s moves are inspired by analytics, vibes, or Twitter polls, they’ve failed to deliver. And if the front office doesn’t turn things around in 2025, they’ll have to find new jobs—and Twitter won’t be much help with that.