In early October, during a screening of “The Duke” to honor the team’s 100th season, Giants owner John Mara proclaimed that he didn’t “foresee making any changes” and hoped to keep the Giants regime when it came to head coach Brian Daboll and General Manager Joe Schoen.
Now as a turnstile season where the team lost 10 straight games is coming to a merciful close, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer relayed in his MMQB column that Mara still feels the same way. The column, which sums up overarching league news at the start of each week, states that Mara “really wants to stay the course with GM Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll, but he’s also realistic about where the team is.” Earlier reports in the week also stated that Daboll and Schoen are not necessarily a package deal- which implies that Daboll could be the scapegoat for the Giants’ disappointing season.
Breer also mentioned that Mara plans to sit with both Schoen and Daboll both separately and individually after the team’s regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles, where Saquon Barkley is looking to break Eric Dickerson’s all-time rushing record against his former team, to discuss their visions for the future.
Report: Giants Ownership “Really Wants to Stay the Course” with Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll https://t.co/SqD0yq2xQI
— Patricia Traina (@Patricia_Traina) December 31, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Is this the right regime to keep?
Staying the course with Schoen and Daboll, who collectively and individually deserve blame for the team’s disappointment, is one conversation. Schoen has had some questionable roster moves like the Daniel Jones contract, letting young talent walk in free agency, and overtly drafting for need over value. While Daboll has had a lukewarm history at best working with assistant coaches like Wink Martindale and Mike Kafka.
However, the larger question that looms over the Giants’ future is how effective it would be to split up a General Manager and Head Coach’s timeline.
The Giants have split up head coaches and general managers two times in the last decade already. The first time in 2015 when they parted ways with two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Tom Coughlin while retaining General Manager Jerry Reese. They promoted offensive coordinator Ben Mcadoo and ended up winning 11 games in 2016.
After that?
Both Mcadoo and Reese were fired before the end of the 2017 season and the Giants finished 3-13 and the Giants turnstile decade began.
Just two years later, Reese’s predecessor Dave Gettleman fired Pat Shurmur after going 4-12 in 2019. He then hired former Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge who only lasted two seasons in New York.
Head Coaching Carousel
Jerry Reese and Dave Gettleman were both on the hot seat when they hired Shurmur and Judge and faced pressure from the fans and ownership to win after disappointing seasons. The issue is that both Shumur and Judge weren’t seen as high-end coaching candidates and that the big names of those hiring seasons- Adam Gase, Doug Pederson, John Gruden, Matt Rhule- didn’t want to come to New York with an unstable lame-duck General Manager situation. While a majority of those coaches weren’t successful in the NFL, they were big names during their respective hiring seasons.
Despite their struggles, it may actually be smarter for John Mara to keep Schoen and Daboll heading into 2025 rather than separating them. In their recent history, the Giants have used half-measures and it hasn’t been successful. John Mara hopes he can keep this Giants regime, but are they regime for the job?
Keep them both or move on completely.
Main Image: Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The post Albert Breer: John Mara Hopes to Keep Giants Regime appeared first on Last Word on Pro Football.