By Joe Caruso
Staff Writer
In 1925, Tim Mara founded the New York Giants football team for just $500. Nearly 100 years and three generations of the Mara family later, the Giants franchise is still under the firm control of Mara’s grandson, John Mara. Only the Chicago Bears have been owned by a single family for longer, and the Giant's tradition has been a staple of their culture, all the way through their 100th season.
The legacy of New York’s football team can compete with any franchise in National Football League history. With four Super Bowl titles, a plethora of hall-of-fame players, and coaches and continued success through the 20th and early 21st centuries, the Giants have been one of the most storied and respected franchises in any sport.
With that being said, calling the last decade of Giants football subpar would be an understatement to an egregious degree. From Ben McAdoo benching Eli Manning to break his consecutive starts streak, the infamous boat picture before New York fell flat in Green Bay during the playoffs or Joe Judge’s tenure as a whole, the Giants have left a lot to be desired. Only the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars have been worse in the last ten seasons than the Giants, who have garnered just one playoff win in that span.
Since the departure of the Super Bowl-winning pair of head coach Tom Coughlin and general manager Jerry Reese, the Giants have cycled through six different coaches and general managers, who have each faltered to the point of getting fired.
Now, as the Giants have yet again found themselves at the bottom of the league in 2024 with a record of 2-8, the current regime in head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen seem to be staring down the barrel just as those before them. However, is it their fault?
From a personnel perspective, the Giants have a lot of issues. A shaky secondary, inconsistent skill positions on offense and below-average offensive line play. However, among all of them, is Daniel Jones, who is somehow in his 6th year starting for the team, despite being consistently underwhelming as the team’s quarterback.
He has never passed for more than 3300 yards and has more turnovers than games played in his career. Nonetheless, he finds himself in the third year of an inexplicable $160 million contract, so someone has to be held accountable for Jones still being under center for New York. Despite Schoen not being the one to draft Jones, and being urged by ownership to extend him, he would be the one to face the music and lose his job.
The Giants were featured in the “Hard Knocks: Offseason” television series on HBO over the summer which documented all of the things that led to the Giants roster construction in a now lackluster 2024 season. Despite Schoen holding the title of head decision-maker, it was the overwhelming presence of Mara that loomed large.
Although he has denied that he has the final say in football decisions, his brother, Chris Mara, being the Giants' senior vice president of player personnel certainly raises doubts that the ownership has nothing to do with football decisions.
As the President, John Mara is in charge of hiring the general managers and is heavily involved with the coaching search as well. Whether it be Dave Gettleman, Joe Judge or Ben McAdoo along with many others, there is a clear trend of Mara pushing the wrong button, and it has set the franchise back a significant amount.
With Schoen and Daboll possibly on their way out, the Giants are going in circles, all at the hands of the Mara family. It is safe to say that it is time for 69-year-old John Mara to step away from making football decisions, as it would most certainly benefit the struggling Giants.
