Giants Co-owner John Mara Not Planning on Any Changes to GM, Head Coach

John Mara plans to stay the course with Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll for the rest of the season and into the off-season. But can the same be said about quarterback Daniel Jones?

East Rutherford, NJ -- August 24, 2024 -- Giants owner John Mara during pre-game warm-ups. The New York Giants and New York Jets meet at MetLife Stadium in both teams' final preseason game of the 2024 season. / Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

New York Giants co-owner John Mara, speaking to reporters following the premiere of The Duke: Wellington Mara's Giant Life about his late father, Wellington Mara on Wednesday night, said there are no plans to dismiss general manager Joe Schoen or head coach Brian Daboll during the season, nor does he expect to do so after the season ends, regardless of the record.

“Obviously, we’re all very disappointed with where we are right now,” Mara told reporters at the premiere of the documentary honoring his late father.

“But I’m going to say one thing: We are not making any changes this season, and I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason, either.”

Mara is not happy with how the Giants’ 100th season has unraveled right before everyone’s eyes.
But in referencing his late father, the team’s patriarch for most of its 100 years in existence, Mara spoke about how his father used to preach patience, which is something that he is trying to deploy as Schoen and Daboll try to navigate through some rough waters in getting the Giants back on track.

Patience has not exactly been a strong suit of the current team co-owner. Since now-retired head coach Tom Coughlin’s resignation after the 2015 season, the Giants have had four head coaches: Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge, and Daboll. 

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Of those four, Daboll, who in his first season led the team to a 9-7-1 record and its first playoff berth since 2016, achieved under McAdoo, is the only head coach to last longer than two seasons.  

While there are no plans to move on from either the general manager or head coach, it’s worth mentioning that Mara gave a similar vote of confidence to his team’s leadership of McAdoo and Jerry Reese. 

However, when things turned wrong under McAdoo’s and Reese’s watch, the capper being the benching of then quarterback Eli Manning for Geno Smith instead of Davis Webb, as McAdoo had allegedly conveyed to be the plan to ownership. Following a road loss to the Raiders, McAdoo and Reese were fired the next day, the first time the Giants fired a coach in-season since 1978 .  

Before the 2024 season, Mara, who declined to set an expectation on the number of wins he wanted to see from the team this year, simply stated that he wanted the team to "take a big step forward."

That has not happened, though, particularly on offense where the Giants, despite switching to Daboll as the play caller, the Giants are averaging 14.1 points per game--less than their 2023 average of 15.6.

While Schoen and Daboll appear safe, the same can’t necessarily be said of quarterback Daniel Jones. 

“I’m not going to dissect individual players, performances or the offense versus the defense or anything like that," Mara said.

"I just wanted to make that statement. … There’ll be a time and a place after the season to talk about this in more detail.”

Although Mara declined to offer his thoughts on whether Jones will be the quarterback moving forward, but things have been trending toward a potential breakup with their 2019 first-round pick as far back as the spring.

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At the league meetings earlier this year, Mara told reporters that he’d be okay with Schoen and Daboll drafting another quarterback if they thought that was in the team's best interest. He even suggested that a little competition might be good for Jones, who has never been seriously challenged for his role as the starting quarterback. 

Jones has a $23 million injury guarantee in his contract, which he can collect next year should he suffer an injury and not be able to pass a physical. or the future of any other player on the roster. 

The Duke: Wellington Mara's Giant Life will air on the NFL Network Friday night. Check your local listings for times.

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