Giants Country

Colin Cowherd Slams Giants for "Hard Knocks" Revelations

Cowherd senses a disconnect between Joe Schoen and John Mara.

Andrew Parsaud

President of the New York Giants, 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, Sunday, November 26, 2023.
President of the New York Giants, 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, Sunday, November 26, 2023. / Kevin R. Wexler / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Hard Knocks has been the main source of New York Giants' offseason content ahead of training camp. HBO decided to take a deep dive into an NFL team's processes during critical times such as free agency and the draft. 

The Giants have been pretty open to showing their day-to-day operations, not being afraid to display how they feel about certain players. While the show has garnered fair reviews through three episodes, there has been criticism about how the Giants handled this offseason. 

The decision to let running back Saquon Barkley walk has been the main argument discussed since the free agency episode aired, with general manager Joe Schoen sticking to his plan of not overpaying for that position.

With the Barkley conversations came awkward interactions between Schoen and owner John Mara, who made it clear he wanted the running back to remain a Giant. Colin Cowherd of FS1 wasn't comfortable with how Schoen and Mara's meetings went down.

“The one thing I do know about being a general manager…you gotta have some sort of relationship with the owner that’s comfortable,” Cowherd said on a recent episode of The Herd. 

“You have to trust the owner. You have to be able to read your owner’s temperament…Sometimes — almost all the time — the owner thinks he knows more about football than he does."

“The GM is Joe Schoen, a handsome, young guy from Buffalo. He’s got two underlings in the chairs. Watch all the body language with this, and listen as Mara is just really uncomfortable with his star, Saquon Barkley, going to rival Philadelphia, potentially.”

“That’s really bad. Like, the owner’s not happy. Joe Schoen’s smiling. The underlings have their head(s) down. Like, it’s really uncomfortable. And he doesn’t have an answer…That’s Mickey Mouse. Joe Schoen smiling, the underlings are uncomfortably looking down, the owner’s got his hand on his face."

Although the conversations between the owner and GM may have been off-putting to some, Schoen did not let Mara's feelings about a player sway his decision to pay running backs. 

While Barkley ended up in Philadelphia, the Giants aren't in a position to pay a running back over $12 million per year with their offense's performance the last few seasons.

Still, that wasn’t enough to calm Cowherd in his criticism of the Giants.

“Read the room. Read the owner. The bottom line is that maybe Mara created some of this stuff because he wanted to re-sign Daniel Jones. And I don’t think anybody else in the world wanted to in New York. 

“But I watch the Giants here, and there is a disconnect between owner and GM, and I’m uncomfortable watching it…I’m uncomfortable watching Joe Schoen there."

Now that Barkley is an Eagle and the negotiation process has been shared with the world, it's time for the Giants to shift focus and prepare for the season. 

With training camp beginning this week, the Giants will be preparing for a season without Barkley for the first time since 2017. Time will tell if Schoen made the correct decision to let their star offensive player walk.

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Andrew Parsaud

ANDREW PARSAUD

Andrew Parsaud is currently attending Penn State, where he is studying digital journalism and media. He is an avid follower of the major New York sports teams. 

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