It felt like yesterday that general manager Joe Schoen's job security was the talk of the North Jersey town. After speculation around his firing came out pre-draft, Big Blue Nation finally has a read on what's going on -- he's going nowhere. I could write a book on how shocked and shook I am that he's here for the long haul, but it'll have to wait for now.
The New York Giants didn't throw Schoen a contract extension because of his terrible 22-45-1 record. Teams don't exactly hand out extensions for three consecutive miserable seasons -- at least, I don't think -- and they definitely don't reward a résumé with a Daniel Jones-, Saquon Barkley-, Xavier McKinney-, draft mess ups-, and everything else-sized screw ups on it.
No. Giants owner John Mara made this decision for one obvious reason: Chicago.
As first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, the G-Men and Schoen agreed to terms on a deal to keep him working with new head coach John Harbaugh for years to come. It’s a move born out of a strong offseason and a surprisingly collaborative 2026 NFL Draft, but more importantly, it's a copy-paste job of a blueprint that's already working.
The Bear necessity behind Joe Schoen’s extension
To say Giants fans will be furious about this extension would be the biggest understatement of the year. For a fan base that has endured a decade of losing, Schoen has largely been viewed as the primary culprit, with local radio and social media lighting up with rage over his job security. From the handling of Barkley’s exit to the disastrous $160 million Jones contract, Schoen’s popularity in East Rutherford has nosedived to an all-time low.
Yet, the organization ignored the relentless boos and frustration and looked at what just happened in Chi-Town. Under Ryan Poles, Da Bears stumbled to a 15-36 record over his first three years as GM, putting him in an eerily similar spot to where Schoen has been over the last four years.
But then Chicago hired Ben Johnson as their HC. And almost immediately, they extended Poles anyway.
Not because he earned it. Because they felt like they had to.
A coach of that caliber isn’t signing up to work with some lame-duck GM on the last year of their deal. Chicago understood that if they were going to maximize Johnson -- and protect Caleb Williams heading into an all-important Year 2 -- they had to align the timelines. They tied the HC and GM at the hip, got the contract situation out of the way, and watched it turn into an 11-6 playoff season.
By locking in Schoen, Big Blue is practically doing the exact same thing with Harbaugh and Jaxson Dart, as the 23-year-old quarterback heads into his own sophomore season.
Schoen wasn’t extended to appease the fan base (quite the opposite), and it clearly wasn’t a reward for the last four years. He was extended because ownership just watched what happened when a team removed the lame-duck cloud and fully committed to a coach-quarterback-front office pairing.
So much for Schoen getting fired, right? We are truly living in crazy times.
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