It’s not you, it’s me.
But also a lot of other people, too.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen jumped right to two time-tested cliches for the embattled — “it’s not good enough” and “it starts with me” — on Tuesday, but also made it known that he thinks the talent assembled under his four-year watch is better than a 2-11 record in 2025 and a 5-25 record since the start of 2024.
“Defensively, after we were 30th last year at this time, and [with] the addition of Abdul Carter, Paulson Adebo, Jevón Holland, Chauncey Golston, Roy Robertson-Harris, we’re in that same area, unfortunately,” Schoen said during his annual bye-week news conference.
“I didn’t anticipate we’d still be 30th in the league in defense at this point with the addition of those players, and we have to do a better job of executing, a better job of finishing games and I’ve got to do a better job with the personnel.”
The Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll after a 2-8 start and added defensive coordinator Shane Bowen to the carnage after a fifth blown double-digit lead and fifth blown fourth-quarter lead sunk the record to 2-10.
But Schoen remains in charge — and was talking like someone who expects to preside over the operation in 2026 — even as his blockbuster $215 million free agency class underachieves and his premium-pick draft misses (Evan Neal, Deonte Banks and Jalin Hyatt) slip to unplayable.
“The standard is to compete for championships year in and year out, and that’s the plan moving forward,” Schoen said. “We’re going to look at all avenues in order to get this franchise back to where it belongs.”
Championships? Maybe start in 2026 with not being the first team eliminated from NFL playoff contention for a third straight year.
“I’m not going to make excuses: It’s not good enough,” Schoen said. “We’re going to look at the entire football operation from free agency decisions, draft decisions, coaching, execution. What can we do better? Because there are pieces there. Why aren’t we maximizing what we have? And that’s going to be our mission this offseason — to figure that out.’’
Schoen is running point on the search for Daboll’s replacement and claimed “there’s feedback from outside sources” to support his belief that the Giants are more talented than the other dregs of the NFL.
The Giants can talk to unemployed coaches and NFL agents, but not to assistant coaches with other teams.
Schoen rattled off rookie Jaxson Dart, receiver Malik Nabers (torn ACL), All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas, three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, running back Cam Skattebo (fractured ankle), tight end Theo Johnson, a collection of pass rushers and “pieces in the secondary” — and then stretched to include Jon Runyan Jr., center John Michael Schmitz Jr. and running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. — as building blocks that candidates should find enticing.
“As you go through it in my mind, I’m like, OK, if I’m a coordinator and I maybe want to be a head coach: Would the Giants be an attractive job to me?” Schoen said. “When you look at it individually, are there pieces? Yes, but we have to come together collectively as a group. They need to be doing the same thing. They need to be on the same page so we can win consistently.”
The thought inside the organization long had been that the Giants would emerge from a decade-long slog once the offensive line found the right combination and a new franchise quarterback was in place.
Both boxes could be checked this season and the results are no better.
“Nobody focuses on what went wrong more than me,” Schoen said. “You can continue to beat yourself up. These are decisions that live on. There are some [examples], early on, where we strayed from what we believe in and I’ve got to live with that, learn from it, educate my staff on what we can do better. With the people we have in the building and the collaborative approach, we’re going to get this thing right.”
And what if a desirable coaching candidate decides — like the Jaguars’ Liam Coen did last season — that he is interested in the organization but not in working with the incumbent general manager? That led the Jaguars to make a front office change.
Will Schoen issue the it’s-me-not-you line then?
“The calls we’ve gotten,” Schoen said, “I think we’re going to be able to fill the job.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
