Giants GM Schoen returning despite 4-13 season

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Giants are retaining general manager Joe Schoen despite closing out a third straight losing season Sunday, the team announced Monday.

The Giants fired coach Brian Daboll last month, and Schoen was figured to be on the hot seat. Schoen and Daboll were hired together in 2022.

Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch said in a statement Monday that although the results of the 2025 season were "deeply disappointing," they are prioritizing "continuity and stability" in the front office, calling it "important to our progress."

New York (4-13) has the fifth pick in the 2026 NFL draft after winning its final two games.

The Giants were complimentary last year of the staff that Schoen, 46, had assembled, and Mara had boasted that the information they were using to make personnel decisions was the best he had seen.

Their last two draft classes appear promising as a result, seemingly guiding the decision to retain Schoen. Those drafts produced quarterback Jaxson Dart, wide receiver Malik Nabers, edge rusher Abdul Carter and running backs Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy Jr., among others.

"We believe in our young core of talent, which we can build around for future success," Mara and Tisch said in their statement Monday.

Schoen has been handling the team's coaching search over the past month, doing the heavy lifting as Mara deals with cancer. Schoen, with the input of his inner circle, submitted a list of candidates to ownership last week.

The Giants' search for the team's next head coach is expected to kick into high gear this week now that the regular season is over, and the team said Monday that Schoen will continue to lead the search. Interim coach Mike Kafka is expected to be one of the candidates interviewed.

Schoen and Daboll were essentially put on the hot seat after last season, when they went 3-14. The results improved only marginally. Daboll didn't survive. Schoen did.

New York has fallen on hard times after making the playoffs in the pair's first season together. It has gone 7-27 over the past two seasons and has a .255 winning percentage since the start of 2023. Only the Tennessee Titans are worse.

It's emblematic of Schoen's tenure, which has been filled with miscues ever since the Giants surprisingly made the playoffs at 9-7-1 in his first year. He has admitted to expediting the process following the success of 2022 and it leading to mistakes.

The Giants are 22-45-1 during the regular season and 1-1 in the postseason during Schoen's tenure as GM.

Schoen signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a long-term deal following that season and placed the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley. Jones was cut less than two years later. Barkley left as a free agent the following year for the rival Philadelphia Eagles, where he won Offensive Player of the Year and the Super Bowl in his first season with the team. Safety Xavier McKinney also walked that same offseason in free agency and was an immediate All-Pro for the Green Bay Packers.

Schoen's first-round picks have also included offensive tackle Evan Neal and cornerback Deonte Banks. Neal didn't play a snap this season, and Banks' only real role for most of the season was as a kickoff returner. In addition, outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth selection in the 2022 draft, hasn't developed into the Pro Bowl player he was expected to be.

But the 2025 draft included Dart, Carter and Skattebo. The previous year's draft produced Nabers, Tracy and tight end Theo Johnson.

Schoen admitted last month that there had been some good and bad over the past few years. The results spoke for themselves.

"Nobody's perfect, and the chances of me batting a thousand are gone because I've made mistakes, OK," he said. "Everybody's going to make mistakes and we're going to get some things right. As long as you're learning from those mistakes and you reflect on the process in place and where you went wrong and you can continue to get better, that's what's most important.

"I'm better today than I was four years ago when I got this job. A year from now, God willing I'm standing here, I'm going to be better than I am today, and that's all I can do."