Some outsiders were surprised when New York Giants co-owner John Mara confirmed on Monday he was retaining both head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen despite woeful performances from a team that finished the 2024 regular season at 3-14.
Giants players such as guard Jon Runyan Jr. seemed happy with Mara’s call as they prepared to begin their offseasons.
“I wasn’t necessarily surprised or taken aback,” Runyan explained, as shared by Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. “I didn’t feel like they were going to be let go. I feel comfortable with them. They have a vision that they installed here and are gonna keep going forward with it and I think the guys that are here are going to buy in and believe in it.”
Schoen and Daboll joined the Giants in January 2022 and guided the club to a postseason berth and a road playoff win in their first campaign with the franchise. New York then suffered a blowout 38-7 divisional-round loss to the rival Philadelphia Eagles in January 2023, and things have mostly gone from bad to worse for the Giants since then.
Quarterback Daniel Jones is now with the Minnesota Vikings less than two years after he received a new four-year contract from Schoen. Big Blue finished the 2023 season at 6-11, and the Giants then lost a franchise-record 10 straight games after they began the 2024 campaign at 2-3.
Some Giants players recently said they felt Schoen and Daboll “underestimated” what star running back Saquon Barkley meant to the team both as an on-the-field contributor and as a leader before the club let Barkley reach free agency last March. He ultimately signed with the Eagles and heads into the playoffs as a favorite to earn Offensive Player of the Year Award honors.
Nevertheless, Giants offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said on Monday he trusts that Schoen and Daboll know what they are “doing.” Meanwhile, star left tackle Andrew Thomas noted that “continuity is a big thing in this league.”
Giants wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson added that he doesn’t “think change is always the best” because “things could get worse” as part of a reset. Mara warned on Monday that he has “just about run out of patience” for the Giants to turn things around, which suggests Schoen and Daboll may have to show over the first half of next season that the team has significantly improved from what it was this past Sunday afternoon to hold onto their jobs through at least the first week of 2026.
