Following some minor bumps in the road, the contract between John Harbaugh and the New York Giants is officially official. Harbaugh will officially be Big Blue's next head coach after the two sides overcame hiccups in the chain of command within the front office.
The contract was never in doubt of falling through, but Giants fans can rest a lot easier now.
Reports revealed that a major sore spot was the 63-year-old's desire to report to John Mara rather than Joe Schoen, which led fans to speculate that Schoen could face the same fate as Trent Baalke in Jacksonville after Liam Coen was hired last offseason.
John Harbaugh on Joe Schoen: "I really like Joe. We had great football talks and great life talks. He's a hard worker and I'm ready for us to roll up our sleeves."... Can you have Ozzie Newsome & Eric DeCosta partnership with Joe? "That's the plan," Harbaugh said.
— Ian O'Connor (@Ian_OConnor) January 17, 2026
However, this won't be happening, as Harbaugh confirmed that the GM will be back in 2026. The Super Bowl-winning head coach admitted to The Athletic's Ian O'Connor that he really likes having Schoen in the front office and believes they can work together to return this franchise to relevance.
Bringing in a veteran coach with his resume is the best possible outcome, but keeping Schoen makes it look slightly less promising.
John Harbaugh just confirmed Joe Schoen won't be going anywhere
Some initial reports suggested that Schoen's presence wouldn't deter Harbaugh's interest in New York's head coaching job, and that proved true. Ultimately, he'll be reporting to Mara, so the pair will be working collaboratively despite Harbaugh having more control over football decisions
The fourth-year GM has compiled a 22-45-1 record while calling the shots with the Giants, which has seen him land on the hot seat. However, unlike Brian Daboll, he received a longer leash because of a strong 2025 draft class, but if the G-Men struggle again in 2026, he'll be guaranteed to be fired.
In his and Daboll's first season, things went swimmingly. The Giants made the playoffs (and even won a playoff game), but if you include this season, they have picked inside the top 10 in each of the last three drafts. There's certainly cause to get rid of him, but Mara does love having a yes man.
The 46-year-old has gotten better over time, but his big misses have aged much worse than his big hits. Jaxson Dart was a great pick, but that was also Daboll's hand-picked QB. A lot of the success stories from this roster are either from previous regimes or Daboll, so he doesn't deserve the credit.
Many believed that Harbaugh wanted to pick his own general manager, but that rumor has officially been debunked. Longtime collaborator Chad Alexander was a popular name to replace him. Still, the truth is that since he possesses the majority of personnel control, he doesn't care about the GM spot.
With Harbaugh coming in, some massive front-office shakeups are on the way, but unfortunately, the Giants' sitting-duck GM still has a job.