John Dunleavy asks: Help me understand the idea of the coach reporting directly to the owner and not the GM. I would think the chain of command goes coach to GM to owner as far as information flow goes.
Ed says: John, every team functions differently. Harbaugh reported to ownership in Baltimore. In Kansas City, do you think Andy Reid is the boss or GM Brett Veach? Do you think Mike Tomlin answered to the GM in Pittsburgh? I’m pretty sure Eliot Wolf doesn’t consider himself Mike Vrabel’s boss in New England. I doubt Sean Payton works for GM George Paton in Denver.
To be honest, I am fine with this arrangement. Maybe more than fine. When the GM has a pipeline to ownership based on reporting structure that does not exist for the head coach, guess what happens? The GM has the owner’s ear while the head coach does not have the same level of access, and that results in the possibility that ownership can be swayed to an anti-head coach stance because they might be getting a one-sided picture.
Having both report to ownership might level the playing field.
Adam Singer asks: Do the Giants have any plans to redesign their uniforms any time soon? With the dawn of the Harbaugh and Dart era it feels like a good time for an update and to leave behind the remnants of the last few years. What say you?
Ed says: Adam, there are no plans to do so that I know of. That said, I agree with you. And, I want “GIANTS” on the helmets. Enough with the silly lowercase “ny”.
John Urbielewicz asks: My question is this, new coaches usually bring some players with them. Either through free agency or trade, who on the Ravens are candidates for that?
Ed says: John, I would simply suggest anyone interested in this topic read the piece I had Nick Falato put together on this a few days ago. I will say I’d be all-in on 300-pound fullback Patrick Ricard.
Edward Mcgowan asks: We don’t know how important it was for Harbaugh, (or any other prospective coach), to want to bring in his own GM but wouldn’t that have necessitated a complete rebuild of the scouting and personnel side of the business just four years after Schoen did just that after the Gettleman years. My question is does ownership view the organization that Schoen built positively or does it also need a remake? It would seem to me that if Harbaugh is not reporting to Schoen and Schoen is not reporting to Harbaugh, the owners must feel that the front office is in decent shape or they just didn’t have the stomach for another rebuild after just four years? What is your take?
Ed says: Edward, if ownership did not view the front office Schoen has created positively and did not feel good about the way Schoen works with his front office and with ownership they would have fired him. My take is the fact that he is still the GM is the answer to how they feel.
Chip McCoy asks: Hi Ed, I love Tom Coughlin and think it’s great that he’s in the Giants Ring of Honor. As I recall, he was also honored live at a home game a few years ago. I’ve always wondered, though, why Jerry Reese hasn’t received any similar honors. In fact, I don’t think I’ve heard anything about him since he was fired. I know the final season was messy and the last few years were very disappointing to put it lightly, but we won two Super Bowls during his tenure. Yes, one was his first year, but he had been in the org for years and helped build that team. I think it’s time to give him some recognition. What do you think? How does ownership view him? Was the end too acrimonious? How do you think fans would react?
Ed says: Chip, I think the reaction to Reese is a mixed one. I really don’t know how ownership feels, unless you want to read into the fact that he is not in the Ring of Honor. I think there is a feeling of wanting to give him credit for the early part of his tenure, but pointing the blame at him for the final few years and for how the Coughlin tenure ended.
Jason Kurtzman asks: We are all well aware of the recent woes of the Giants in the kicking department. To me, isn’t one of our 6th round picks absolutely worth using on best kicker available? A 6th rounder at almost any other position rarely turns into a useable NFL player but you can often get best player available at K/P in the 6th round, and isn’t the return on investment extremely high if you are able to take BPA? Taking BPA in a draft at any position has to have a higher hit rate than 6th round value, right? Hopefully we’ve “Saulsed” our problem at kicker but why not spend a 6th on someone like Lucas Carneiro, who one of the commentators on the broadcast called a “weapon” in Ole Miss’s CFP game? What if he’s our Brandon Aubrey? Thanks!
Ed says: Jason, I might agree with you had Ben Sauls not been so impressive in his three-game stint at the end of the season. If the Giants think Sauls is their answer, and I don’t know why they wouldn’t, it makes no sense to use a draft pick on another placekicker. I could see bringing in a veteran kicker as competition so that the job is not simply handed to Sauls. I don’t see the need for drafting a potential replacement, though.
M2-0 Buscemi asks: I know Harbaugh has interest in some of his Raven players that he would bring to the Giants two are center Lindenbaum and safety Gilman.
I don’t think the Giants have this kind of cap money to sign these players. So what magic is he going to use? He might have to go to a plan. B.
Ed says: Let’s not obsess over the salary cap situation right now. It is true that the Giants have only $1.8 million in space on an estimated $295.5 million cap for 2026, per Over the Cap. That, though, is highly misleading.
There are 12 teams — yes, 12 — in worse shape than the Giants. Those 12 teams are all in the red right now and will have to make moves to simply get under the cap.
Between now and the start of free agency in March, John Harbaugh and GM Joe Schoen will be assessing the roster and a number of moves that will free up cap space will be made.
An easy one is cutting placekicker Graham Gano ($4.5 million in savings). James Hudson ($5.38 in savings) is another easy one. Bobby Okereke ($9 million in savings), Jon Runyan ($9.25 million in savings), and Devin Singletary ($5.25 million in savings) are obvious cut candidates. That’s more than $30 million in savings, and there are other moves that could be made.
A big one? What if the Giants decide to trade Kayvon Thibodeaux? That’s $14.75 million in cap savings if they do it before June 1.
Just let the offseason play out. The Giants will make the moves they need to make to chase the players they want to try and bring in.
Bob Donnelly asks: John Harbaugh (thrilled to have him) is described as a CEO style HC who relies heavily upon his coordinators. We have a young quarterback who is early in his development and needs the right coach to bring him along. Jaxson Dart is already going on his second OC in his young career.
If the Giants have a season like NE or Denver had this year and make a deep run in the playoffs we could see our OC becoming a HC target for some struggling franchise in which case our young Quarterback would be working with a third OC in three years.
My question:
Can an NFL team contractually require an OC to commit to a minimum of two years in position before interviewing for a HC position?
Ed says: Bob, no, teams cannot prevent a coach from interviewing for a promotion. They can deny permission to interview for a lateral job, that’s all. Losing coaches or executives is the price of being good.
Brian Misdom asks: Hi Ed, relieved and excited that we finalized terms with Harbaugh as our next HC but hoping you could clarify some of what contributed to the delayed announcement.
I understand part of the delay was that Harbaugh wanted to ensure he was directly reporting to Mara rather than to Schoen. Prior to Daboll, wasn’t this always the case? Coughlin/McAdoo and Reese, Gettleman and Shurmur/Judge were peers, no?
The shift with Schoen and Daboll was supposed to help drive better alignment on the operations. If this has been the normal way of things, was it really that much to unpack and update how things will be with this new regime?
Ed says: Brian, no the change of Harbaugh reporting directly to ownership was not the case before Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen. The Giants have had a structure with the GM at the top and the coach reporting to or working under him since the days of George Young. Probably before that.
Andy Engel asks: From your mailbag last week: in the second letter your response to drafting wide receivers Tate or Tyson was that it wasn’t a good idea because WR is a “place where (we) are already overstocked”; then in the fifth letter you state “I do believe they need another big-time pass catcher, even with Malik Nabors and Wan’Dale Robinson”. You are usually on target with things so I’m asking which do you really mean? I believe they do need one.
Ed says: Andy, perhaps that was a poorly constructed answer on my part. The Giants are overstocked at edge defender, which is why drafting Arvell Reese makes no sense to me. Even if you trade Kayvon Thibodeaux, you still have three players for two positions and have to play one at a spot where he won’t be utilized to his fullest potential. They do need wide receiver help.
Philip Dunne asks: Any thoughts on whether the last two games played into Harbaugh’s decision to come to New York? I feel like coaches respect a team that keeps fighting, even if fans see it differently. Maybe he looked at a young team that managed to squeak out a few wins and thought it was something he could build into a solid program.
Ed says: Philip, Harbaugh has been clear that he likes the quarterback and he likes a lot of what he saw when he watched the Giants on film. I don’t honestly think the late-season victories had much, if anything, to do with his decision. It’s more about the talent he saw, and the fact that it’s a job with an iconic franchise.
Marc Boucher asks: With rumors of Tyler Linderbaum being a potential free agent signing for the Giants, where would that leave JMS? Not sure of cap ramifications, but would a trade, release, backup role, or move to G be the move for JMS?
Ed says: John Michael Schmitz has improved year over year, but is not as good as Tyler Linderbaum. If the Giants sign Linderbaum I see only one realistic path for Schmitz, and that is for the Giants to trade him in exchange for whatever draft assets someone will give them. I can guarantee the Giants would like to acquire a third-round pick, which they don’t have right now after the Jaxson Dart trade.
JMS is not a guard, and you need that flexibility if you are going to be a backup. If Linderbaum is a Giant, Schmitz’s value is as a trade chip.
Stephen Turcotte asks: It certainly seems as if the Mara family ownership succession plan has been revealed by Chris Mara’s increased visibility and role in the pursuit of John Harbaugh, as well as his role in addressing the media after Harbaugh’s press conference.
What is the feeling regarding Chris’s more public role amongst the media and Giants executives, and what does it tell us about John’s ongoing cancer battle and prognosis?
Ed says: Stephen, I think that everyone should appreciate what Chris Mara has done. He stepped up and did what needed to be done when his brother wasn’t physically able to do so. If John Harbaugh changes the organization for the better then Chris Mara will have had a lot to do with that.
As for John Mara’s situation I am not a doctor and I won’t speculate. He is a 71-year-old man in a cancer battle. That’s a serious thing.
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