The New York Giants have had a season to forget, currently sitting at 2-10 on the year without a clear direction for the future. And when you pair this disastrous year with documentary evidence of the shortcomings of the team’s front office, Craig Carton believes that this will ultimately result in the firing of Giants’ general manager Joe Schoen after the season.
Ahead of the season, the Giants of course took part in the inaugural edition of HBO’s Hard Knocks: Offseason, which showed the behind-the-scenes decision-making of the organization.
While the organization made some positive decisions this past offseason like drafting rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers, they also made some horrendous mistakes that have aged horribly. None more than deciding to let star running back Saquon Barkley go to free agency, where he would sign with their NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.
As the saying goes, the rest is history. Barkley is in the midst of a career year in Philadelphia. And to make matters worse, he rushed for 176 against his former team in a dominant 28-3 for the Eagles back in Week 7.
The clip of Schoen deciding to let go of Barkley, and the subsequent worried quote from Giants owner John Mara about said decision has quickly become one of the more infamous Hard Knocks moments of all time. And the Giants’ whole appearance on the show took a lot of heat.
As a result of their disappointing year and Barkley’s success outside of New York, Craig Carton detailed that he believes Schoen will be out of a job once the season comes to an end.
“I think (head coach Brian) Daboll is back and (Joe) Schoen is gone,” said Carton during an appearance on The Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata Show on WFAN Tuesday. “I think that the dumbest decision they have made as an organization in a long time was doing Hard Knocks. It’s so against everything the Giants had stood for for 50 years.
“And they embarrassed themselves. It came across Mickey Mouse. That was so antithetical to what the Giants have always been about.
“Joe Schoen, who is a nice guy by the way. When your ten-year-old boy is on camera going ‘Dad, go get a quarterback. You only get one shot at this job.’ And as I understand it, the Giants had the right to say that can’t air. If you’re John Mara, why would you let the segment air where (you say) I’m not gonna sleep tonight if he goes to the Eagles.”
.@craigcartonlive thinks Daboll stays and Schoen goes, and says the Giants “embarrassed themselves” with Hard Knocks:@BrandonTierney @sal_licata pic.twitter.com/1d4lnShId6
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) December 3, 2024
To Carton’s point, considering the Giants would go on to bench and ultimately cut Daniel Jones this season, perhaps Schoen should have listened to his son about drafting a quarterback.
However, the true downfall of Schoen’s tenure as GM in New York far predates the team’s Hard Knocks appearance. In particular, it dates to when Schoen decided to give Jones a four-year $160 million contract extension in March of 2023, which in turn made it difficult to justify potentially drafting a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Only time will tell whether Carton’s prediction about Schoen ends up being correct. John Mara has stated that he “does not anticipate” any changes at either head coach or general manager this coming offseason.
But considering Mara has essentially become a meme for his quote about Barkley’s potential departure on Hard Knocks, perhaps he may reconsider.
