Lee Greenberg asks: There’s always been a lot of discussion and debate about whether or not Eli Manning should be a Hall of Famer, and that obviously got rehashed again this week with him once again being named a finalist. My question though, is what about Tom Coughlin? You never really hear his name mentioned or discussed as a candidate for the Hall of Fame. Why do you think that is? Many of the same arguments people make in favor of Eli, can also be made for Coughlin. He’s a 2-time Super Bowl champion (3 if you include his first one as an assistant coach), led one of the greatest Super Bowl upsets of all time against the undefeated Patriots, beat the greatest coach of all time head-to-head in the Super Bowl twice. And then on top of all that, there’s all the work he did as head coach of the Jaguars, helping build them from the ground up as an expansion team. So, what’s your take on Tom being a legitimate candidate for the Hall? Does he deserve to be enshrined alongside the other greats, or is he destined to be remembered as a coach who was always very good, but never great?
Ed says: Just like Eli Manning deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, so does Coughlin. The Hall of fame voting committee seems to have Bill Belichick and Mike Holmgren in line ahead of Coughlin. Belichick I get. Holmgren I do not.
Tim Carroll asks: I have two comments, questions. One with Steve Tisch being involved with Jeffery Epstein don’t you think it will make it harder to hire quality people for the organization. Possibly even sway players to leave at all cost as soon as they can. Please don’t go the innocent until proven guilty route. Just read some of the emails. Plus I never heard of Epstein accused of trafficking adults. Second why did we hire a coach whose best years are behind him, and to show who is boss lost our o-line coach when he was well regarded by the team, management, and even his dad? I really think Stefanski was the better option with two recent coach of the year and Cleveland’s dysfunction.
Ed says: Tim, I think the idea that people won’t work for the Giants because of the Steve Tisch stuff is nonsense. Has the Robert Kraft sex scandal from 2019 done damage to the New England Patriots? The Tisch stuff is distasteful, of course, and his judgment in that situation was awful. I doubt, though, that it impacts the football team on the field in any substantial way.
Since you sent me this question, Matt Nagy has joined the Giants as offensive coordinator. He is a former head coach. Dawn Aponte, a long-time NFL employee, left a job with the league to come to the Giants. She is highly-regarded. I would say both are quality hires.
As for Kevin Stefanski, you are entitled to your opinion. Stefanski was my choice, before John Harbaugh entered the picture. There was no coach available with a resume equal to Harbaugh’s, or who could change the culture of the franchise like Harbaugh. I don’t know how you concluded that Harbaugh’s best years are behind him. Or, that he didn’t keep Carmen Bricillo to “show who is boss.” That simply isn’t factual. You are projecting your unhappiness. The fact is Harbaugh was expecting Todd Monken to be offensive coordinator, and that Monken had a preferred offensive line coach.
William Broderick asks: What is the 1 specific spot, if you were given the ability to choose, would you allocate the teams money and resources to upgrade? Not 1 part of a position group, the 1 singular spot. Let’s assume salary cap is not an issue.
Ed says: William, I think I would look for one dominant off-ball linebacker. That might lead to a discussion about Arvell Reese of Ohio State. The debate about Reese, of course, is whether he is an off-ball linebacker, an edge defender, or some combination. Is he Abdul Carter? Or, is he something different that would complement what the Giants have rather than duplicate it.
Tom Pietrzak asks: Ed, in an interview you recently did with Emory Hunt, he suggested the Giants go “best player available” with the 5th overall pick in the draft and select Caleb Downs, the safety from OSU. This is an idea you endorsed and I wonder, if it came to fruition, what it would mean for the two starting safeties currently on the Giants roster. Jevon Holland still has two years left on a 3-year, $45 million contract, and Tyler Nubin, a second round draft pick in 2024, has two years left on his rookie contract. So, how could the Giants justify taking a safety with the #5 pick in the draft when they already have so many resources allocated to the position?
Ed says: Tom, Harbaugh was brought in to make the Giants better. Other than sticking with Jaxson Dart at quarterback, he isn’t going to be beholden to anything that was done to build the roster before he got the job. If he believes Caleb Downs is the right player to select, he isn’t going to worry about Holland or a player like Nubin on a relatively inexpensive rookie contract.
The resources that have been devoted in recent years have not led to the kind of results the Giants want. If they need to take another swing, so be it.
Lee Greenberg asks: There’s been plenty of chatter about the Giants potentially trading Kayvon Thibodeaux, most recently in your “5 Bold Predictions” article. You suggested in that article that an appropriate return for the Giants in any trade scenario would likely be a day 2 draft pick. My question though, is what if the Giants wanted to deal him in a player-for-player trade, rather than for draft picks? Are there any players around the league who are on the trade block, and might be available to the Giants in a swap for Thibodeaux? Maybe a receiver like Waddle, Olave, or Aiyuk? Or a defensive back like Budda Baker, who has been mentioned in a ton of rumors going back to last year’s trade deadline? Do you see any scenario where a player-for-player trade involving Thibodeaux would be realistic and would make sense for both the Giants and their trade partner?
Ed says: Lee, of course a player-for-player trade is a possibility. I don’t know about the players you mentioned. i simply considered the possibility of using Thibodeaux to add mid-round draft capital.
Erick Voronin asks: Unlike first round bust Evan Neal, I’m not ready to give up on fellow first rounder Tae Banks. His promising rookie year under Martindale’s system and his impressive kickoff returns this past season show me there’s untapped talent there.
1-Does Banks fit Dennard Wilson’s scheme and gives him a chance to resurrect his career like Cor’Dale Flott has.
2-Is there enough evidence to show he doesn’t have the instincts to be a full time DB.
3-Could you see him become a full-time special teamer and maybe a second-string DB for his career. We haven’t had a threat like him since Domenik Hixon.
4-If the team decides to resign Flott, do you see the Giants trading Banks before he hits free agency in ‘27.
Ed says: Erick, by reputation Dennard Wilson is a coordinator who prefers an aggressive, press-man style defense. The Giants were actually seventh in the NFL in 2025 in the amount of man coverage they played, but that does not mean they were always pressing or playing aggressively .
Theoretically, heavy use of press-man coverage would be best for Banks. That is the system he was drafted to play in. I do think the role you describe is one that Banks could fill. Whether he does that with the Giants, where there is a history of questionable effort John Harbaugh might not want to deal with, I don’t know.
Michael Feldman asks: Schoen and Harbaugh have said they are too busy filling out their new staff to attend the Senior Bowl.
This sounds bogus to me since, in the past, the Senior Bowl was of paramount importance to Schoen and such a big deal was made over it.
The more likely explanation, to me, is that Schoen realizes – or has been made to realize – that he placed too much emphasis on the couple of days of staged performance at the Senior Bowl and his personal meetings with the players.
Admittedly, I haven’t tracked how well the Giants have done drafting guys who attended the Senior Bowl.
Maybe there’s some other explanation for why Schoen and Harbaugh are not attending the Senior Bowl this year but, if they still believed it was as important to them to physically be there as in prior years, they would be there, regardless of their other responsibilities. For whatever reason, they are clearly leaving all that to their scouts, where they now believe it should be.
Ed says: Michael, I am going to disagree with your take that not attending the Senior Bowl because hiring staff was their top priority is a “bogus” excuse. There are 10 NFL teams needing to hire entirely new coaching staffs, which means assistant coaches have options. I’ve seen the Giants hire bad coaching staffs too many times. Getting the right coaches is a big part of the process and you have to be aggressive to get the ones you want.
As for the Senior Bowl, I am also going to disagree that it is “staged performance.” It is the last time players are in pads and do competitive football drills. They do these under the direction of NFL coaches, so it is critical to the evaluation.
The vast majority of general managers and coaches attend the Senior Bowl. Every evaluator I have ever spoken to says teams rarely miss on the evaluation of a player’s skills. They miss on the person. How do you get to know the person? By being around him. These all-star games like the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl provide the first opportunities for NFL decision-makers to get around these kids and talk to them face-to-face. Every interaction, every touch point matters.
Harbaugh and Schoen made a decision that their time was best spent building the coaching staff and front office this year. They left that to others this year because there is an incredibly compressed period of time to hire a staff, assess the current roster, get ready for free agency, prepare for spring practices, and get ready for the draft. They felt that skipping the Senior Bowl was the best thing they could do this time. That’s all.
Lou Catalano asks: Ed, over the years you have frequently commented that the Giants, especially under Schoen’s leadership, have not taken advantage of void years as the Eagles and others have done. I saw in your piece about creating cap space that you wrote that void years are “years that do not extend the contract, but are only as placeholders for the proration”.
Could you please provide some examples of how void years would actually work?
Ed says: Lou, look at the example below. It is Jalen Hurts’ contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.
What you see is that Hurts’ contract to play for the Eagles actually runs only through 2028. The Eagles used what is called an option bonus as part of the structure. Bonuses are, for accounting purposes, pro-rated over the life of a contract. The years listed as “void” are actually years that Hurts won’t play for the Eagles without a new contract. What you see is that for accounting purposes $97.553 million in bonuses have been prorated over years that actually don’t exist. The contract will void in 2029, and the Eagles will be hit with that $97 million cap charge.
Over the period of time Hurts will play for the Eagles under that contract, this mechanism drives the yearly cap charge down.
Ray Kochert asks: I am very surprised by the hire of Dawn Aponte in a good way. I wonder who was behind this hire? Chris Mara? Taking on a more active role in managing the Giants? Is Dawn our next GM?
Ed says: Ray, I don’t know the answers to those with any certainty. I do know there was an expectation that John Harbaugh would be influential in adding someone to the front office as the organization is reshaped. I know that Aponte and Joe Schoen were in the front office together with the Miami Dolphins for a number of years, so there is a pre-existing relationship. My guess is that Aponte wasn’t leaving her job with the league to return to working for a team without the influence of someone like Harbaugh.
As for her being the next GM, I can’t say that thought did not cross my mind. Aponte has interviewed for general manager jobs in recent years. In 2024, she interviewed for the Los Angeles Chargers’ GM position, and last offseason she interviewed for that role with the New York Jets.
If the Giants decide at some point that Schoen is not the right GM to work with Harbaugh, it stands to reason Aponte would get consideration.
Marcus Mewborn asks: Which position(s) do you think the Giants should prioritize in FA rather than wait until the draft?
Ed says: Marcus, I think you simply look at what you believe your needs are — wide receiver, interior offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, maybe a couple of other spots — and see who is available on the market and whether or not you can make a sensible deal.
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