There has been a lot of talk during the offseason about New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll potentially being on the hot seat for the 2025 season. But for as much as Daboll might be on the hot seat, the same could be said for general manager Joe Schoen. He’s been with Daboll from the start of their tenures back in January of 2022 and is likely considered to be on the same hot seat.
A lot of people around the league have been critical of Schoen for being the guy who gave Daniel Jones a massive extension, only to cut ties with him two years later. Then, he let Saquon Barkley walk to a division rival, something that was well documented last year on HBO’s Hard Knocks. The whole Barkley debacle has turned into a year-long punchline for the Giants, especially after he went on to have a historic season capped off with a Super Bowl win.
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Former Giants safety Antrel Rolle, who knows a thing or two about Super Bowls considering he was on the last Giants team back in 2011 that won a championship, spoke with Gambling Industry News on the state of the Giants and shared the same concern many had regarding not paying Barkley, but paying Jones instead, especially when he was asked about the team’s status at the quarterback position.
“Listen, I love my Giants. I just felt like there were some bad moves along the way, man. GM moves. They got rid of some guys and paid some guys where it didn’t make sense to me. The film doesn’t lie. I understood Saquon had injuries, but if you had gotten Saquon more help, he would have been who Philly experienced this year. Maybe not to that extent because we know how dominant the offensive line is there, but I just felt like there were a lot of bad moves made that really didn’t make any sense.
Antrel Rolle sees the good and the bad in the Giants recent roster moves
The Giants have since cut ties with Jones, releasing him less than two years after handing him a four-year, $160 million deal with $82 million guaranteed. Despite that, the team has slowly started shifting gears and is now focused on rebuilding in a different direction. In the same interview, Rolle also praised many of the roster moves Schoen has made during that transition.
“With that being said, they are trying to get back into the right direction. They drafted the stud they drafted this year (Abdul Carter). He’s going to be a helluva player. That goes without saying. You have Nabers, who’s been playing out of his mind. Russell Wilson can distribute the ball. How good will Russ be? That’s to be determined. But we haven’t seen a huge decline in Russell Wilson. But I feel like Nabers needs more help, and you can use more help in the backfield. Those will be the key focal points to turn the organization back around.”
Rolle is just the latest to share in the excitement about the Giants bringing in Abdul Carter to bolster the defense and pass rush—a unit many believe could turn New York into a sleeper team. The offense remains a bit of a mystery, but Malik Nabers is coming off a historic rookie season in 2024 that earned him plenty of attention. Nabers was ranked the No. 7 wide receiver in ESPN’s recent survey of football personnel and finished fifth in NFL Rookie of the Year voting.
Whether the newest additions to the Giants’ quarterback room will work out in 2025 and beyond remains to be seen, but there’s no denying the team needed to revamp the entire group — and really, the entire offense — after several seasons of ranking near the bottom of the league.
For Schoen’s sake, the moves need to pay off. The Giants need to show real progress in 2025 for him to come off the hot seat. Will it happen? Time will tell.