New York Giants General Manager Joe Schoen Remaining With Team
Despite a record that would make most executives update their LinkedIn profiles (22-45-1 over five years), Joe Schoen is staying put. Co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch looked at the wreckage of the 2025 season and decided that Schoen wasn’t the problem. It is a move that screams “stability” in a franchise that has been addicted to chaos for a decade, but it’s certainly a gamble.
The Quarterback Saved His Job
Let’s be real for a second: If Jaxson Dart had flopped, Schoen would be packing boxes right now. The NFL is a quarterback league, and general managers live and die by the signal-caller they choose. Schoen pushed all his chips into the center of the table when he traded back into the first round to grab Dart at No. 25. It was a move that raised eyebrows at the time, but inside the building, it’s viewed as a masterstroke.
Unlike the Daniel Jones experiment, an $80 million mistake that Schoen tried desperately to salvage, Dart actually looks like a franchise guy. He threw 15 touchdowns, ran for nine more, and generally looked like the only spark of life in a dead offense. Ownership believes Schoen finally solved the riddle that has plagued the franchise since Eli Manning hung up his cleats. That belief bought him a fifth year.
Evaluating the Schoen Era: Hits and Misses
It isn’t just about the quarterback, though. Schoen has quietly assembled a roster that should be winning more games. Trading for Brian Burns, who racked up 16.5 sacks, was a legitimate coup. Locking up Andrew Thomas and Dexter Lawrence kept the foundational pillars in place. And he did the unglamorous work of fixing a salary cap situation that was an absolute disaster when he arrived.
But you can’t gloss over the ugly stuff. The first-round busts are glaring. Evan Neal hasn’t just been bad; he’s been a liability. Deonte Banks and Jalin Hyatt haven’t developed into the stars the team needed. When you look at the 7-27 record over the last two years, it’s hard to argue that the “process” is working. Yet, Mara clearly feels the talent is there, even if the coaching staff couldn’t get it to click.
The Pressure Is On
There is also a very human element to this decision. With John Mara undergoing cancer treatments, the appetite for a total organizational tear-down, finding a new GM and a new coach simultaneously, likely just wasn’t there. Stability matters.
Now, Schoen faces the most critical offseason of his career. He has to find a head coach who can actually develop this “young nucleus” Mara keeps talking about. He needs a leader who can take Dart from “promising rookie” to “playoff contender.” Schoen survived the axe this time. But if the Giants are sitting at the bottom of the NFC East again next year, no amount of promise will save him.
