The Giants on Monday announced both Daboll and Schoen would return after completing a 3-14 season. Daboll compiled a 18-32-1 record in three years.
‘As disappointing as the results of the season have been, (co-owner) Steve (Tisch) and I remain confident in the process that Joe and Brian have implemented and their vision for our team,’ Mara said in a statement. ‘We look forward to achieving the results we all desire.’
The decision provides a degree of stability for a franchise that previously dismissed Joe Judge, Pat Shurmur and Ben McAdoo after or during their second season.
The Giants were 2-5 when Mara gave the current regime a vote of confidence. After that point, however, New York dropped its next eight contests, with its 10-game losing streak only ending with the Week 17 win over the Indianapolis Colts. Amid the skid, the lead-up to multiple games featured a plane flying over MetLife Stadium while pulling a banner critical of the team, including one with the demand Mara ‘fire everyone.’
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Turmoil surfaced far beyond that point, however, as starting quarterback Daniel Jones – who signed a four-year, $160 million contract in March 2023 – was benched and subsequently released upon his request. Standout rookie receiver Malik Nabers and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence – who was New York’s only Pro Bowl selection but was lost for the season in early December after suffering a dislocated elbow – both ripped the team for playing ‘soft’ in a 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in late November.
Yet perhaps the biggest cloud that hung over the Giants’ season has been the success of running back Saquon Barkley, who starred for the Giants from 2018-2023 as the team’s former No. 2 overall pick but left the organization this past offseason to sign with the rival Philadelphia Eagles. Barkley became just the ninth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a season and came within striking distance of Eric Dickerson’s record before Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, whose team was locked into the No. 2 playoff seed in the NFC, decided to sit him for the finale.
In the offseason edition of ‘Hard Knocks,’ Mara told Schoen in a conversation before the start of free agency he ‘might have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia.’ While Barkley pushed his way to the front of the race for Offensive Player of the Year, the Giants languished as the league’s lowest-scoring team for much of the season before its 45-point outburst in Week 17.
Free safety Xavier McKinney also enjoyed a breakout season after leaving the Giants, securing his first Pro Bowl berth with the Green Bay Packers after recording seven interceptions in 2024.
Daboll won NFL Coach of the Year in his first season with the organization after helping lead New York to a 9-7-1 mark and a wild-card berth, the organization’s first postseason appearance since 2016. In the ensuing offseason, however, the Giants signed Jones to his extension and issued the franchise tag to Barkley just before the deadline for the designation. Jones tore his ACL in November 2023 and never regained the form he displayed in 2022.
Now, the Giants head into the offseason needing a new quarterback – with the team widely seen as a strong candidate to select one with its first-round draft pick – but will have the same leadership in place to develop him.
