Have Giants HC Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen Sealed Their Respective Fates?

The losses and frustration have piled up for the New York Giants, but will ownership stay the course with its current leadership or will they make a change?

New York Giants co-owner John Mara (left) and New York Giants General Manager Joe Schoen speak with New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll at MetLife Stadium before their team hosts the New England Patriots on Sunday, November 26, 2023. / Kevin R. Wexler / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New York Giants fans are not happy with what they have seen from the team for most of the last decade–they made that abundantly clear on Sunday afternoon when one or more fans spent money to rent a small aircraft that circled MetLife Stadium before the game towing a banner that implored team co-owner John Mara to “fix this dumpster fire.”

Seen over MetLife Stadium. pic.twitter.com/lKpFp5N83s

— Patricia Traina (@Patricia_Traina) December 8, 2024

But for those who think any fix will include the firing of general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll, that, believe it or not, is still not a foregone conclusion, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer, who believes that Mara and fellow team co-owner Steve Tisch will remain patient as Scoen and Daboll try to navigate the franchise out from the basement.

Breer, in his latest MMQB column, points to all the work the team’s brass has done over the last two seasons, suggesting that all along, there were plans to go in another direction but that the team’s brass is trying to be patient in their selection of the right quarterback.  

He reported that the Giants sent their “high-end evaluators” on multiple trips to scout seven different college quarterbacks: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, Miami's Cam Ward, Georgia's Carson Beck, Texas's Quinn Ewers, Ole Miss's Jaxson Dart, Alabama's Jalen Milroe, and LSU's Garrett Nussmeier.

Breer also believes that the Giants’ brass was never really under the illusion that the franchise would be able to move forward with the quarterback situation it began the 2024 season with, something that, again if we go back to what was revealed on Hard Knocks when we saw not only the work done with the quarterbacks but also Schoen trying to trade up in the draft and outlining the plan for ownership that if they couldn’t get the quarterback, they’d pivot and get a weapon for the offense instead.  

Schoen and Daboll have both said they have regular conversations with team ownership. Despite what some fans might want to believe, team ownership isn’t oblivious to the team's deficient areas–quarterback, cornerback, and defensive line depth all come to mind–which have come back to haunt them this season.  

From a business perspective, which seldom gets discussed yet is part of the equation, ownership certainly can’t be happy with all the empty seats. This translates into lost concession/merchandise revenue and the abandonment of corporate sponsors who don’t wish to be associated with a franchise that right now appears to have lost its way.

But let’s stick with Breer’s assessment and why his interpretation of the tea leaves is probably spot on.

First, it’s highly unlikely that Giants ownership has already decided or conveyed their intentions to Schoen and his team of advisors that right now, it’s anything other than status quo. That means scouting trips and personnel evaluations should continue as usual.  

As Breer noted, the second point is that the Giants had quickly pulled the plug three times before. However, each of the circumstances was slightly different from what the Giants are currently experiencing.

While all three previous head coaches (Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur, and Joe Judge) didn’t produce the desired results, they also lost the locker room, which prompted ownership to pull the plug early.  

Daboll, despite experiencing some clear rough patches born of frustration after losses, does not appear to have traveled down the same road as his three predecessors as far as losing the locker room. While a loss is a loss, the Giants have only been blown out by two or more scores in four of their losses this season.  

Giants ownership also isn’t foolish enough to think the roster is built to win, and the lack of results right now is due to some other circumstance. The quarterback situation has hung over the team like a lingering foul odor, and no matter who Daboll has put under center, the results have been the same.

Cornerback depth has been an issue–we knew this before the season when Schoen, on Hard Knocks, joked about having one of his staff go play cornerback. He saw it in the preseason when he tried three times to sign an established veteran. 

We also learned of the two guys he had his eye on, one of whom was Kool-Aid McKinstry. The Giants faced him on Sunday, and each of them was gone by the time the team was on the clock in the second round. 

That doesn’t mean Schoen didn’t make some mistakes. Not drafting offensive line and defensive line depth was a misstep. (However, give credit to defensive line coaches Andre Patterson and Bryan Cox and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen for getting a bunch of young players, of whom many weren’t even on the 53-man roster in Week 1, to play well against an Alvin Kamara-led Saints rushing attack.)

Still, as Breer pointed out, it’s a fair question to consider whether all that is enough to convince ownership to stay the course or if they should do what they really should have done after Tom Coughlin resigned, which was to start over with a new head coach, a new general manager, and a new franchise quarterback. 

 “Will they still? It's a fair question. There are the aforementioned eight consecutive losses and the lack of a win at MetLife Stadium, a stadium over which some colorful commentary on the team's season flew Sunday,” Breer said. 

“But there's also the fact that the Giants have, as I've mentioned a few times, pulled the plug quickly three times in the past decade, and the premise that Mara most certainly doesn't want to do it again.”

Each major reset means the club, with few exceptions, is potentially looking at a minimum of two seasons before it’s built up to really compete. By then, some of the veterans who are part of the team’s existing core not only become two years older but also experience more wear and tear to the point that now, all of a sudden, thought has to be given to how to replace them.

These are just some of the many things Mara and Tisch will need to consider when this miserable 2024 season, which was supposed to be a joyous celebration of the team’s 100 seasons, ends. 

The most likely scenario, as Breer noted, is that Daboll and Schoen will be back next year, but “with some staff changes,” also adding, “Given where the Giants are right now, it's probably best to wait before saying that with complete certainty.”

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