After it seemed like the New York Giants were preparing for a full sweep of the front office personnel, the team put out a statement Monday morning stating their intention to keep general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll in their respective positions for the 2025 season.
The Giants are giving Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll one last chance
Evidently, owner John Mara is giving them one last opportunity to fix all the wrongs that occurred in 2024. The team finished with a 3-14 record, tied for the worst record in the NFL, and won just one game at home this season.
Perhaps that one lone home victory saved their jobs, as the players rallied behind their head coach and sniffed out a 45-33 victory against the Colts that knocked them out of playoff contention in Week 17. They could have easily tanked their season to get the first overall pick, but the players had other ideas, and it resulted in the team to run it back with this regime next season.
Eli Manning agrees with the decision to keep Daboll and Schoen
The decision has been met with words of approval from current and former players alike. Former Giants quarterback and 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee Eli Manning is one of those that supports their decision, adding that it takes time for a regime to build a Super Bowl contender.
“You gotta create some sort of continuity and keep things the same, build that culture. And that just takes time. You can’t necessarily do it in two years or three years. They got off to a great start, making the playoffs in year one, but now they’re in a situation. They gotta go find a quarterback, they gotta get a couple of new spots in key positions, and again, they’re not far. They have some play makers that have the superstars on the team, and it’s just about getting everybody to buy in and to work together, and finding ways to win some of these tight games,” Manning told CNBC Sport’s Alex Sherman.
As Manning noted, the team has taken a step back since reaching the playoffs in Schoen and Daboll’s first season with them in 2022. Over the past two seasons, the Giants have the third-worst record in the NFL at 9-25, and their 14 losses this season set a new franchise record for most losses in a single season.
Daboll took over the play-calling duties this season and did not deliver the output they wanted. The Giants threw the fewest passing touchdowns in the league with just 15 and scored the second-fewest points per game with just 16.1. Daboll hinted at his end-of-season presser on Monday that he and owner John Mara discussed having Daboll not be the signal caller next season.
The Giants have several areas that need to be addressed in the offseason
New York desperately needs to address the quarterback position, as they have not had consistent play at that position since Manning retired after the 2019 season. After six seasons of constant struggles, Daniel Jones was finally released during this past season, and Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito couldn’t provide a spark as backups.
The Giants need a long-term solution at quarterback if they wish to be competitive once again. They can look through the draft and start fresh with a rookie quarterback, though they won’t have the luxury of picking their top choice as they are picking third behind two quarterback-needy teams in the Titans and Browns.
They will likely look into the market for an option that will at least get them through next season and hope that the offense can perform significantly better.
Of course, the quarterback isn’t the only position with problems. They have a very weak secondary that needs work, and they could use some additional insurance on the offensive line given the injury problems they dealt with this season. How they choose to address those areas remains to be seen, but nothing trumps their need for a franchise quarterback.
2025 will be a big season for both Daboll and Schoen. How they operate through this offseason and into next season could determine their long-term fate, but they have both been given a final opportunity to prove themselves worthy of keeping their jobs in New York.
