NFL insider shares theory about Giants' curious Joe Schoen decision

While previous reports suggested that New York Giants head coach and true head of football operations John Harbaugh could dismiss general manager Joe Schoen before the Memorial Day holiday weekend, a Thursday story hinted that Schoen was safe in his job. 

The Giants then confirmed on Thursday evening that Schoen had signed a multiyear contract extension to stay in his role. During Friday's edition of the "Pro Football Talk Live" program, NFL insider Mike Florio addressed a decision that left Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News and others baffled. 

Did John Harbaugh keep Joe Schoen around for this reason?

"Harbaugh needs somebody to blame if this year doesn't go well," Florio said. "If you push Schoen out, you don't have anybody to blame if this year doesn't go well. So we give him an extension, so people quit talking about whether or not Joe Schoen is short for the Giants job. They needed to do something because [Schoen] was in the last year of his contract. I just am not ready to say this is the indication that these two are going to go arm-in-arm." 

The Giants restructured the team's leadership following the hiring of Harbaugh this past winter, as senior vice president of football operations and strategy Dawn Aponte reports to Harbaugh instead of to Schoen. Meanwhile, Harbaugh reports directly to team co-owner John Mara. This structure has reportedly relegated Schoen to "scouting draft prospects 365 days a year" and to "scouring the waiver wire and scouting other teams in the hopes of finding hidden gems after cut day."

Is John Harbaugh still evaluating Joe Schoen? 

Florio mentioned that Harbaugh could still view Aponte as the Giants' general manager in waiting. 

"I still think Harbaugh hasn't made a decision," Florio added about Schoen's long-term future. "For now, the decision is, 'Let's sign him to a multiyear extension.' Nobody even knows how many years it's for. It could be, technically, if it's a multiyear extension, it's a three-year contract. And how much of it is guaranteed? And how much money are we talking about? We don't know."

As Giants insider Dan Duggan of The Athletic noted, Schoen receiving an extension this spring will "only impact ownership’s wallet because if Harbaugh wants a new GM after the season, a change will be made." That doesn't explain why Harbaugh felt Schoen needed to put pen to paper on an extension before the Giants' mandatory minicamp gets underway next month, but what's done is done.