The New York Giants may have moved on from head coach Brian Daboll, but the organization’s biggest questions remain unsolved. Despite another disappointing season, ownership chose to retain general manager Joe Schoen, the same architect behind the roster Daboll failed to win with. That decision, according to one NFL executive, doesn’t bode well for the Giants’ organizational direction.

”A red flag, to me, when an organization just fires a coach is that they’re not being introspective enough about the shortcomings around the coach,” said the exec, who chose to remain anonymous.  He emphasized that firing the head coach without looking into deeper structural issues is a classic organizational mistake.

”It’s not necessarily on the GM, it’s on the owner, president, everyone. ‘Oh, if we just change the coach everything will be better.’ No, there’s always stuff to change… A head coaching change is a symptom that something is wrong in your organization. It’s rarely just the coach,” he added.

That’s a warning directly to the current Giants’ structure. His first point: firing only the coach signals a lack of accountability from the top. If the organization believes the coach was the sole reason for failure, it suggests leadership hasn’t properly evaluated roster construction, developmental environments, or operational decision-making.

That is particularly relevant in this case because Schoen wasn’t merely present during Daboll’s tenure; he was responsible for hiring him. Daboll is gone, but Schoen remains, despite the two sharing a near-identical win-loss record. If the GM who built this roster stays untouched, can anyone trust that meaningful change is actually coming?

This is especially important for coaching candidates entering the hiring cycle. As the executive explained, candidates study how the holdover GM has used draft capital, which picks worked, which missed, and whether the roster complements the coach’s system. Their careers hinge on whether the GM can be trusted with collaborative team-building or whether mistakes will keep repeating.

Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson famously went through multiple hiring cycles while still the Detroit offensive coordinator before choosing a landing spot. His leverage allowed him to interview organizations, question structural weaknesses, and push for reform, even with an inherited GM in place. Any high-demand candidate considering the Giants will do the same: study ownership, scrutinize Schoen, and then determine whether the organization can support long-term success.

Despite the concerns raised, Giants ownership made their belief in Schoen publicly clear. “We feel like Joe has assembled a good young nucleus of talent, and we look forward to its development,” team owner John Mara said.

He admitted the last three seasons have fallen short but insisted the organization takes “full responsibility.” Schoen, hired in January 2022, brought Daboll with him days later. Together they produced a playoff run that briefly revived hope, only for the team to regress sharply each season since.

His résumé is undoubtedly mixed. His early personnel decisions, including Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal with two top-10 picks, and the $160 million contract extension for Daniel Jones, have aged poorly, leaving the team between a rock and a hard place.

The events preceding Brian Daboll’s firing and the questions that remain

The Giants officially parted ways with Brian Daboll, but their patience has been wearing thin for some time now.

According to reporting from The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Week 7 collapse against the Denver Broncos, when New York surrendered 25 points in the final five minutes, was the turning point. It was one where the Giants blew a 26–8 lead, missed a crucial extra point, and then watched Denver storm back for a walk-off field goal.

From that moment on, the organization shifted from evaluation to inevitability. Since that collapse, New York has been outscored 129–77 over their last 13 quarters and dropped four straight games. Their quarterback of the future, Jaxson Dart, was ruled out with a concussion after Week 10, further draining the offense.

For the third consecutive season, the Giants began 2–8 under Daboll, numbers ownership could no longer justify. With Daboll gone, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka takes over as interim head coach; it is his first chance at running the show in nearly a decade as an NFL assistant.

But the larger concern goes beyond whether Kafka can steady this team; it falls on whether job candidates will look at this organizational environment and the continued presence of Joe Schoen as a stable foundation rather than a risk.