New reports detail how Giants hiring HC John Harbaugh has changed GM Joe Schoen's role

As part of accepting the New York Giants' head-coaching job, John Harbaugh is reporting directly to team co-owner John Mara and not to general manager Joe Schoen. 

Shortly after that news went public in January, it was learned that the Giants would be experiencing multiple organizational changes in the early days of Harbaugh's tenure. 

One of those changes involved the hiring of Dawn Aponte to serve as Giants senior vice president of football operations and strategy. Aponte was previously the NFL’s chief football administrative officer. For a piece published Sunday, The Athletic's Ian O'Connor detailed what the Giants adding Aponte to their front office means for Schoen.

John Harbaugh is clearly running the show for Giants

"She’ll oversee analytics, salary-cap management and player contract negotiations," O'Connor wrote about Aponte. "As another sign of Harbaugh’s considerable influence in the organization, Aponte will report to him." 

Also on Sunday, Giants reporter Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News shared that "Schoen is basically relegated to handling scouting," as "the rest of the building reports to" Aponte. Interestingly, Schoen previously said he was "not worried about" the Giants' organizational changes that would come from "something on a piece of paper that doesn't matter." 

Such information will do little to quiet chatter suggesting Schoen has no long-term future with the Giants as part of the Harbaugh-led regime. A January report indicated that Schoen could sign a contract extension "after the draft in April," but it's believed he may only ink a one-year deal at that time. 

Under Schoen, the Giants went 13-38 from Week 1 of the 2023 season through Week 18 of this past campaign. He is under contract through the 2026 season. 

John Harbaugh opens up about working relationship with Joe Schoen

"I had high expectations for Joe, and I would say he’s lived up to those high expectations," Harbaugh said about his working relationship with Schoen. "We’ve worked really well together. We talk multiple, multiple times every day … and a lot of things come up. 'We hired an analyst, so what are we paying him? What did the Raiders or Eagles say when we asked for permission to speak to someone?' Joe’s been a smart judge of tactics and situations."

Schoen has little choice but to try to make things work with Harbaugh unless the executive decides to move on from the Giants at some point after the upcoming draft. Not that there was much doubt about it before, but Sunday's updates confirmed that Harbaugh and not Schoen is the main man as it pertains to running the Giants' football operations this winter.