The New York Giants' 2024 season was a train wreck, but the real embarrassment started months before the games even kicked off. By agreeing to star in HBO’s inaugural Hard Knocks: Offseason, the Giants willingly put their dysfunction on full display for millions to see.
Fans expected behind-the-scenes drama, but what they got was a front-row seat to one of the worst-run offseasons in recent memory.
From the moment general manager Joe Schoen let Saquon Barkley test free agency, the stage was set for disaster. HBO cameras caught it all—awkward front-office debates, misguided roster decisions, and ultimately, Barkley walking out the door to the division-rival Eagles. The fallout? Barkley put together a historic season, helped Philadelphia win a Super Bowl, and made every single person involved in the Giants' decision-making process look like complete fools.
Now, in a fitting twist, Hard Knocks: Offseason might not even return for a second season because no team wants to be the next Giants-level disaster. Newsday’s Tom Rock reported that after the show turned Schoen and company into a league-wide punchline, “no team wants anything to do with an ‘Offseason Hard Knocks’ this summer.” Who could blame them?
This isn’t a definitive report but in talking to league and media folks this past week it sounds like no team wants anything to do with an “Offseason Hard Knocks” this summer and it may be a one-and-done.
— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) February 12, 2025
Hard to imagine why.
Joe Schoen might have ruined Hard Knocks for everyone
The problem wasn’t just that Hard Knocks highlighted the Giants’ mistakes—it’s that those mistakes immediately blew up in their faces.
The most infamous moment came when team owner John Mara admitted he’d “have a tough time sleeping” if Barkley ended up in Philadelphia. Fast forward a few months, and Barkley was hoisting a Lombardi Trophy in an Eagles jersey while the Giants limped to a 3-14 record.
And it wasn’t just Barkley. Hard Knocks documented Schoen’s failed attempts to trade up for a quarterback, which led to New England taking Drake Maye and the Washington Commanders selecting Jayden Daniels, while the Giants passed on multiple signal-callers to draft Malik Nabers. Sure, Nabers looks like a future star, but that didn’t stop HBO from airing clips of Schoen and his staff trying and failing to secure their QB of the future. Meanwhile, Daniel Jones flamed out, was benched, and then cut—just as everyone except the Giants’ front office saw coming.
The worst part? Every single one of these blunders was immortalized on television, ensuring that even casual fans could see just how bad the Giants' decision-making really was. It was so humiliating that even league executives have taken notice, with one calling it “embarrassing to the organization.”
The Giants didn’t just ruin their own reputation—they might have killed Hard Knocks: Offseason entirely. And honestly, they probably deserve credit for sparing another team from making the same mistake they did.