It's shocking that the New York Giants just gave general manager Joe Schoen a contract extension. It feels like the fanbase has been waiting for him to get canned for years and were fully expecting him to be so after John Harbaugh was hired, but apparently his job is safer than ever.
Harbaugh is operating as the quasi-general manager and the fifth-year exec may just be a glorified scout for New York from here on out. He's gotten slightly better over time, but it's hard to call him good at his job.
In his latest GM rankings for NBC Sports, Patrick Daughtery ranked Schoen as 25th-best in the NFL. That may sound generous, but that amounted to 25th out of 29, since there are three teams with first-year GMs. So, essentially he sees New York's GM as the fifth-worst in the NFL.
"Joe Schoen found his quarterback. It may cost him his job," Daughtery wrote. "Welcome though Jaxson Dart’s addition was, it didn’t lead to any better returns in 2025. That got Brian Daboll fired but was undoubtedly part of the reason John Harbaugh was hired. 63-year-old Harbaugh wasn’t about to go somewhere without a promising quarterback, but he also wasn’t going to report to 'Joe Schoen'.”
Joe Schoen's public perception should offer him a harsh reality check
The only GMs he had ranked below the 46-year-old were John Spytek (LV), Monti Ossenfort (AZ), Mike Borgonzi (TEN), and Darren Mougey (NYJ). Ossenfort and maybe Borgonzi make some sense, but Spytek and Mougey have undoubtedly done more to build the foundations of their respective teams in less time.
The fact he has survived as long as he did while Brian Daboll got fired midseason last year says less about him and more about Big Blue's ownership. At this point, he's a glorified yes man not just to Harbaugh, but to the entire Mara family.
And his continued employment has resulted not only in Giants fans wanting him gone, but is part of the reason this team has been a bottom feeder since their last Super Bowl.
Daughtery noted that the Giants' entire offseason blueprint came by virtue of Harbaugh. He brought in a small army of ex-Ravens and laid the foundation with the Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa picks. He's done more in one offseason to improve the trenches than Schoen has done in five offseasons.
"If that had it feeling like a Harbaugh vanity project, the draft’s additions of elite prospects Arvell Reese and Francis Mauigoa has the whole thing on steadier footing. Schoen just doesn’t know if that will include him a year from now, or even three months from now."
Schoen has a 22-45-1 record as a general manager, and most of the good decisions he's made in recent years were either obvious (Abdul Carter) or someone else's (Jaxson Dart, this entire offseason). Dave Gettleman's leash wasn't this long, and he had a better track record in the draft. And he refuses to move on from the draft picks where it's obvious they didn't pan out.
The G-Men didn't just relinquish him of all of his power because Chris Mara was bored. It's Harbaugh's team now.
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