Giants reporter expands on why John Harbaugh could make Joe Schoen decision

New York Giants reporter Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News revealed that Giants head coach John Harbaugh could dismiss general manager Joe Schoen as soon as this week, now that the 2026 NFL Draft has taken place. 

On Monday, Leonard expanded on why Harbaugh could move on from Schoen before the team holds mandatory minicamp sessions. 

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"It is not uncommon for NFL franchises to hire a new coach and then turn over the GM seat after that year’s draft," Leonard wrote. "Multiple NFL sources [said] Harbaugh and the Giants could act as quickly as this week to make the change, while others think it’s possible they drag out the inevitable perhaps as far as after the upcoming season. It’s important to remember the context here: Harbaugh was brought to New York to change the way the Giants have done things, which has earned them the reputation as one of the worst operations in the league over the past decade." 

The Giants have won just a single playoff game since their most recent Super Bowl victory, which occurred in February 2012. Meanwhile, rosters assembled by Schoen went 13-38 over the past three seasons and 7-27 over the last two campaigns. The Giants fired Brian Daboll, Schoen's hand-picked head coach, this past fall. Schoen is in the final year of his current contract, and Leonard shared that "two sources said Sunday they still did not believe" that the executive had received an extension.

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"...The last time Schoen participated in a so-called collaboration," Leonard added, "he hung Daboll out to dry when judgment day arrived to save himself. Their relationship turned on the heels of the 2024 season when Daboll recognized the shift, and they were never the same."

Harbaugh is running the Giants' football operations and reportedly wanted Schoen to handle scouting ahead of the draft. Schoen has now completed those tasks, so it's fair to wonder what else is needed of him if it's true that he will remain a lame-duck general manager until the upcoming regular season gets underway.