Giants ownership can’t afford to go half-in, half-out this pivotal offseason

As we approach the final few weeks of the 2024 season, the New York Giants have been finding new ways to embarrass themselves both on and off the field. On the field, the team has become less competitive and harder to watch.

Off the field, it’s the constant airplanes flying over MetLife Stadium just before games that have sunk the Giants to new lows as a broken franchise—something most hadn’t thought possible since the 1970s, before George Young stepped in to fix the organization.

It’s been a long time since that era, but with the 2-12 Giants looking unlikely to win another game this season and with a nearly half-empty MetLife Stadium every week (which hasn’t seen a Giants win since 2023), it’s hard to fathom real change coming. Many fans favor firing both general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll at the conclusion of the 2024 season. While co-owner John Mara has said he wouldn’t do that, he might not have a choice.

But what if Mara only fires one of them?

There’s a chance the Giants decide to keep Schoen as GM and fire Daboll after three seasons—just two years removed from their playoff appearance in his first year. Sound familiar? It should. The Giants have tried this before, and it didn’t work either time.

Go back to the end of the 2015 season, when many thought both Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin might go after the Giants posted three consecutive losing seasons. Instead, Reese stayed, and Coughlin was out. Enter Ben McAdoo, who coached the team to an 11-5 record in his first season but was fired midway through his second after a disastrous 2-10 record. That season ended 3-13, marked by McAdoo controversially ending Eli Manning’s Ironman streak. Reese was also let go—two years too late, according to some.

If that wasn’t enough, fast forward to the end of the 2019 season. The Giants finished 4-12 but had a rookie quarterback in Daniel Jones showing promise under head coach Pat Shurmur. The roster, built by then-GM Dave Gettleman, had potential. Yet Shurmur was fired while Gettleman—arguably the one more deserving of the axe—was retained.

Instead of building on Jones’ progress, the Giants were rejected by several coaching candidates and settled for the unpopular Joe Judge. Gettleman and Judge clashed, with Gettleman ultimately avoiding a firing by retiring after the 2021 season. Judge was let go after two tumultuous years.

Now, three years later, the Giants might repeat the same mistake. Schoen could stay, and Daboll could be fired. Can we guess how that would end? Hint: not well.

Keeping a GM with a questionable track record isn’t appealing to prospective head coaches, especially established names. It didn’t work with Gettleman, as Mike McCarthy, Ron Rivera, and Matt Rhule all turned the Giants down. Judge wasn’t the right guy, and in hindsight, Shurmur either should have stayed or been dismissed alongside Gettleman.

So why would Schoen stay over Daboll? Daboll was the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year after leading the team to the playoffs in his first season. Even in this poor campaign, the Giants have fought hard in several games despite injuries and roster deficiencies. Those deficiencies, however, fall squarely on Schoen, who failed to build a competitive team.

The Giants cannot afford to split another GM/coach pairing for the third time in eight years, especially with the franchise poised to draft a quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft. Mara has two options:

1. Keep Schoen and Daboll, draft the quarterback of the future, and give them at least one more season to show improvement.
2. Fire both Schoen and Daboll, start fresh, and rebuild from the ground up.

Ironically, that was the suggestion from the last plane to fly over MetLife Stadium.

What was supposed to be a celebration of the Giants’ 100th season has devolved into an embarrassing disaster. For Mara, the decision for 2025 is clear: keep the regime intact and try to move forward, or take a page from the co-tenant Jets’ playbook and blow it all up.

Half-in, half-out didn’t work with Reese and McAdoo. It absolutely didn’t work with Gettleman and Judge. Don’t make the same mistake for a third time with Schoen.

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