The Giants are finally finished losing games, but there is still ample opportunity for Joe Schoen to throw a Hail Mary. 

The general manager vowed not to. 

On the day co-owner John Mara announced Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll are returning next season but declined to commit to the regime beyond 2025, Schoen said he will not manage the offseason like someone with a job to save. 

“I’m not going to do a Hail Mary for self-preservation or anything like that,” Schoen said. “We have a plan in place that we believe in, and we’re going to stick with that.” 

It would be the natural human inclination for Schoen to spend big in free agency and mortgage future draft capital in order to buy victories and show short-term progress — especially with a franchise-sized hole at quarterback. 

Schoen’s predecessors, Jerry Reese (2016) and Dave Gettleman (2021), took big swings when they were on the H๏τ seat and — while Reese’s produced a playoff berth — both sprees harmed the salary cap in later years.

Gettleman also put the team first and traded back in the first round of his final draft. 

Will Schoen cut corners to the Get Right Fast plan? 

“I would never do that,” Schoen said. “We’re going to build this thing the right way. I’ve got tremendous respect for ownership and what they believe in. We have really good communication with them, and they understand where we are and where we’re trying to go. There will be no Hail Marys.” 

Schoen fell on the sword for the Giants finishing 3-14, but said he was never concerned about his job security.

His 2024 draft class shined as rookies, but he let go of likely First-Team All-Pros Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney in free agency. 

“We’re not good enough, we didn’t play well enough,” Schoen said. “We have to do a better job ᴀssembling the roster with more talent so we can go out and compete at a higher level.” 

Mara said he is “not sure I am all that confident that [the roster] is that much better” than it was when Schoen arrived three years ago. That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. 

Though he stopped short of issuing a playoffs-or-bust mandate for 2025, Mara made it clear that he wants a quick turnaround.

And he did not commit to Schoen and Daboll for at least two more seasons, which would eliminate the possibility of sticking a rookie quarterback in the cycle of changes that caused the Giants to “screw up” Daniel Jones’ early development. 

“I’m not going to put any kind of time limit on it,” Mara said, “but I understand where you are going with that.” 

The Giants have the No. 3 pick in the draft — behind two other quarterback-needy teams — and more than $40 million in salary-cap space in 2025, and more than $100 million in 2026, according to Schoen. 

“Some teams are in a situation where maybe they need a quarterback but they might not have the finances or the draft resources,” Schoen said. “So we’re in good shape from that standpoint in terms of improving the roster.” 

It is easy to pinpoint where things went off the rails for Schoen.

When he signed Jones to a four-year, $160 million extension after going to the playoffs in 2022, and then admittedly sped up the build to give Jones a better chance to succeed with moves like trading a draft pick for a one-year rental of Darren Waller. 

“I’m still learning,” Schoen said. “I reflect on some of the decisions we made and maybe where there was a blind spot or I turned a blind eye to some things. I think that’s important. Year 3 [is done], good process in place, good people in place.”