EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — General manager Joe Schoen is in Year 4. The New York Giants are currently 2-11 and have won five games over the past two seasons.
“Not good enough,” Schoen said.
The Giants go to their bye week on a seven-game skid, with rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart taking another unnecessary hit in Monday night’s 33-15 loss to the New England Patriots and No. 3 overall pick Abdul Carter being benched for the second time in three games for tardiness. They’ve dropped 13 consecutive road games dating back to last season.
Schoen said that Carter was a 21-year-old young man thrown into life in the big city. “People make mistakes,” Schoen said. But he was confident in the rookie edge rusher’s future despite the recent slipups.
Schoen was also especially complimentary of Dart, who he said was on his radar before former coach Brian Daboll got involved in the scouting process. They together landed on him as their quarterback of the future back in April, Schoen said. The perception has been that Dart was Daboll’s guy.
“Anytime you’re going to make a decision on a first-round quarterback, that’s going to be an organizational decision,” Schoen said. “It’s an organizational decision.”
Even with the quarterback in place, Schoen was somewhat hesitant to get too excited about the Giants’ future considering where they currently stand. They’re in last place in the NFC East … again.
Schoen thought the Giants were close last year when he spoke during their bye week. This season there was a slightly different tone when asked if they’re close to being competitive.
“We’re at two wins,” Schoen said. “Got to do better. We’re not there.”
The spotlight is on Schoen. He is in charge of assembling the roster. Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen have already been held accountable for their coaching deficiencies and have been fired.
Schoen appears to be safe with his fourth season as general manager almost in the books. He has been tasked with running the team’s coaching search, even though the Giants are just 20-43-1 since he took over.
“I’ll just say this, nobody’s perfect and the chance of me batting 1.000 are gone. I’ve made mistakes,” Schoen said. “OK, everybody’s going to make mistakes. And we’re going to get some things right. As long as you’re learning from those mistakes and you reflect on the process in place and where you went wrong and you continue to get better, that’s what is most important.
“I’m better today than I was four years ago when I took this job. And a year from now, God willing I’m standing here, I’m going to be better than I am today. That’s all I can do.”
Schoen is ultimately responsible for selecting offensive lineman Evan Neal in the first round of his first draft. That hasn’t panned out. He selected struggling cornerback Deonte Banks in his second year. He let running back Saquon Barkley walk to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, traded defensive tackle Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks and watched safety Xavier McKinney sign with the Green Bay Packers.
The Giants did draft wide receiver Malik Nabers and Dart under Schoen. They traded for standout edge rusher Brian Burns last year, and Schoen built an offensive line that currently ranks in the top half of the league in pass block win rate. Schoen believes that makes the Giants’ open coaching job highly coveted.
“As we go through the coaching search and what that may look like, there’s feedback from outside sources. As you go through it in my mind, if I’m a coordinator and I maybe want to be a head coach, the Giants are going to be an attractive job.
“OK, you have a young quarterback. He’s shown that he’s played at a pretty good level. We’ve got a No. 1 receiver who had a historical rookie season. They’ve got a left tackle. They’ve got a left guard. They’ve got a center coming back. They’ve got a young running back room. [Tight end] Theo Johnson was showing very good flashes this year. That side [of the] ball, there’s some pieces in place to build around.
“Defensively, there’s pass rush, there’s Dexter Lawrence, there’s some pieces in the secondary. So when you look at it individually, are there pieces? Yes, but we’ve got to come together collectively as a group, and there’s 11 guys on the field that need to be doing the same thing. They need to be on the same page. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that. That starts with me. That’s what we have to figure out. It’s not just talent.”
Mike Kafka is serving as the Giants’ interim head coach. He has lost his first three games since taking over for Daboll.
But Schoen said Kafka will get a “real look” for the job. Kafka said he hasn’t spoken yet with the general manager or ownership about the full-time position.
“My mind has just been on the players and this team,” Kafka said.
Kafka’s future is clearly in doubt. Nothing is 100% certain with Schoen. When asked if he was given any assurances, Schoen said that ownership will evaluate football operations at the end of the season.
“As they should,” he said.
But while Schoen compiles the list of potential candidates aside from Kafka, he’s not concerned regarding his involvement. He doesn’t see his presence as a deterrent.
Multiple league sources told ESPN recently that they expected Schoen to be safe unless a potential head coaching candidate the team desired wanted to bring in their own guy as general manager. Schoen isn’t worried about that.
“From the calls we’ve gotten,” he said, “I think we’re going to be able to fill that job.”
