General Manager Joe Schoen

SCHOEN: Good afternoon, everybody. I'll start off by saying I'm honored and humbled that (President and Chief Executive Officer) John Mara and Steve Tisch (Executive Vice President, Chairman of the Board) allowed me to see this process through. I'd also like to thank (interim head coach) Mike Kafka for the job he did here towards the end of the season. Obviously, he finished with two wins at the end. He did a phenomenal job keeping the guys together, competing all the way to the finish there.

To our fans, I understand the wins haven't been what the expectation is. I'm fortunate enough to be tasked with getting the organization and the franchise back where it belongs. That's the goal as we move forward. We're going to start the search for the next head coach of the New York Giants. As soon as I leave here, that's what we're going to go start focusing on. We're going to get the right person to lead the franchise and, again, get us back to what the standard is. That's competing for championships on a yearly basis. With that, I'll open up for questions.

Q: Did you receive an extension?

SCHOEN: I'm not going to get into my personal contract situation. As you've seen today, unfortunately, in the nature of the business, I'm not sure how much it really matters how many years you have on your contract or not, but I'm not going to get into my personal situation there.

Q: A lot of the players today talked about craving for leadership with that head coach. How important is that aspect, and what does that really mean?

SCHOEN: The criteria for the next head coach, there's several criteria that we're going to look for, leadership being an important element in the head coaching world. Football acumen will be important. Player development is very important, having a plan for player development. We have a young quarterback. It's going to be important that there's a plan in terms of (quarterback) Jaxson's (Dart) development, holding people accountable, and communication. There's a lot that goes into the head coach that can fall under that leadership element, but those are some of the characteristics that we're going to be looking for in the next head coach.

Q: Do you want somebody with head coaching experience already?

SCHOEN: We're going to cast a wide net, and there's no directive that it has to be an offensive guy or defensive guy or special teams or college or whatever it may be, having head coaching experience previously, we are going to find the best leader for the franchise.

Q: We saw last year a couple of young rookie quarterbacks flashed with struggle overall with winning, whether it was (Patriot's quarterback) Drake (Maye) with New England. You saw (Bears quarterback) Caleb (Williams) with Chicago teams that had the young nucleus of talent like you guys have. Then, year two, they got the coach and they took off. Do you see this as a similar situation, that you get the right coach and you can have similar success with the Patriots have seen or the Bears have seen?

SCHOEN: That would be the goal. That would be ideal. That's a good question. When you look at those franchises that did that, I believe New England was picking four and Jacksonville may have been at five and what teams are in the top ten again. Those are two really good examples. Caleb Williams and Chicago, what they were able to do. Each of those franchises brought in new head coaches and were able to turn it around rather quickly. Drake May is in the MVP race right now. Caleb Williams, we obviously played against him. He's had a really good year and playing at a high level. That's certainly an opportunity that you look at those franchises and how they put it together in a quick turnaround. In an ideal world, yeah, that would be it.

Q: How do you think Jaxson is viewed? What's your initial impression from the outside when you're going through this process? Do you think it's going to be a benefit to have him here?

SCHOEN: Absolutely, absolutely. From the people I've talked to, the consensus, there are a lot of potential head coaching candidates that are excited about the opportunity here because of Jaxson Dart.

Q: What have they told you about, in terms of what John and Steve and what kind of input they're going to have in terms of the coaching search whether it's their decision or your final decision?

SCHOEN: I didn't hear the first part.

Q: What have you heard from ownership in terms of the power balance of who's going to make the final decision on the coach between yourself and the owners?

SCHOEN: I've been doing a lot of research with some of my leadership group, not just me, but there's a few of us that have been doing a lot of research. We are gathering names, gathering information, providing that to ownership. We will all go through the interview process together, and collectively we'll come up with who the next head coach of the New York Giants is going to be. Ultimately, it's ownership's decision, but I imagine that's going to be a collaborative effort.

Q: Ownership will be part of the interviews?

SCHOEN: Yes, ownership will be part of the interviews.

Q: Yesterday, had you guys lost, you would have had the number one pick in the draft. I think we all know that means being able to get a ton of draft capital on the trade from a quarterback needy team. Is there any part of you that regrets winning either of the last two games?

SCHOEN: No, no, I always want to win when we go out there. Every time, it's important. We haven't done enough winning, and I understand that, and that falls on me, but any time you go out there, specifically against a division opponent, we hadn't beat the Cowboys, to go out there and do that was important. Again, we have a young group of players that need to learn how to win, and to go out and finish the way we did, we can carry that momentum into the offseason and hopefully carry that over into next season.

Q: If there is anyone questioning why ownership retained you, obviously it's a question for ownership, but from your perspective, why do you deserve to be the person who gets to lead this forward here?

SCHOEN: For me, early on I made mistakes. I'm fortunate to have great ownership here where you're allowed to stub your toe and try to course correct. Over the last couple of years, we've been able to add a franchise quarterback. You've been able to add a number one receiver in (wide receiver) Malik Nabers, and again, I'm looking forward to getting him back. The defensive line, the pass rushers. There are pieces in place that also make this an attractive job. Looking at where we're going, where the build is, what the plan is moving forward, and seeing the vision through is why I think that's the case.

Q: Will Jaxson Dart be – he's not going to be in the interviews obviously, but he's such an important part of this franchise. Will he ever get any input in some of this at some point?

SCHOEN: Input? He might meet somebody, but I don't know about input. I love him, but he's 22 years old or 23, whatever he is, and he's got one year in the league. Could he potentially meet a candidate? Sure, but we'll make the decision ultimately.

Q: How do you think your presence will impact the head coaching search and how will you manage it if there's a candidate who has a different preference for the GM?

SCHOEN: Yeah, people talk about that because that's a rare instance that happened a year ago. I know what you're talking about, and that's not necessarily the case in every cycle. So, talking to a lot of the representatives of potential head coaches, that has not come up one time and doesn't appear to be anything that's going to deter from a coach wanting to take this job. There's actually the opposite. There's a lot of excitement for the opportunity. We have phenomenal ownership, the history of the team, and some of the young pieces that are in place along with some of the veterans.

Q: When you were told you were being retained, what did ownership tell you about their expectations for 2026 and anything they wanted to see improved, or what was their message to you directly?

SCHOEN: Yeah, there wasn't a directive. It was a plan, a plan in place. When you're in my position, if you were here year two, yeah, it would have been better, of course. As a general manager, you always want to have a young quarterback and build the team around a young quarterback. You get the advantage when they're on a rookie deal. So, talking about the pieces we have in place, the plan, where we're going to go from here, how we're going to approach the offseason, it was more so that than what the expectations are or mandates to do X, Y, and Z must happen in 2026.

Q: When did you find out?

SCHOEN: We've had constant communication since the press release when (Brian) Daboll was released. There was no – there's never like, hey, this is the – we're going to go forward with you. We've been operating, and I've been gathering information for the coaching search, and we have consistent communication on a daily basis. So, that's how we've continued to proceed.

Q: How serious is Mike Kafka as a candidate?

SCHOEN: He's going to get an interview, and he's done a good job. He's been on the interview for the last, you know, several weeks. Enjoyed working with Mike. His leadership offensively, he was able to still handle the play calling. I believe we ended up 13th in the league in offense. I think we were 30th last year. You know, fifth in the run. Fifth in the league in rushing. So, it was impressive. Again, that's – you put on that head coaching hat, and now you've got to evaluate the defense, too. Obviously made a change with Shane (Bowen), that's difficult to do, and he handled all that very well, and obviously impressive, two wins down the stretch here.

Q: A lot of the top names rumored for head coaching candidates are defensive coordinators, defensive-minded, and there's obviously a perception in the NFL that you can't hire a defensive coach because he can't develop a quarterback. He'll need a top offensive coordinator. Where do you fall on that whole debate?

SCHOEN: Yeah, my previous stop in Buffalo, (Bills head coach) Sean McDermott's a hell of a defensive coach. He's a hell of a head coach. And we drafted (Bills quarterback) Josh Allen. So, there's a way for that to work. (Mike) Vrabel, maybe put him in that boat. They have (offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels. So there's ways for this to work, and I would also say not just the head coaching job in terms of this being an attractive destination, but if I'm an offensive coordinator and you look at, okay, they've got a left tackle, they've got a left guard, center coming back, they've got a number one receiver. (Tight end) Theo Johnson has shown some promise. Hey, (running back Cam) Skatt, (running back) Tyrone Tracy, Jaxson Dart, I could probably work with that. Defensively, they've got rushers. They've got (defensive lineman) Dexter Lawrence in the middle. You know, (safety) Jevón Holland, (cornerback) Paulson Adebo. I could probably work with that. So, my expectation, hopefully, is we're going to get the right head coach that can also bring in a very good staff. That being not just offense coordinator, defense coordinator, special teams on down the line. So, I think there will be an attractiveness there as well.

Q: How is this task to sort of fix these Giants different than the one that you stepped into four years ago when you took this job?

SCHOEN: How is this? Say that again.

Q: Yeah, like how is this – I guess how has the team changed? How is it different? Do you feel like you're starting from square one or?

SCHOEN: No, I don't think we're starting from square one. Again, having the quarterback in place, when I got here, we didn't do Daniel's (Jones) fifth-year option. There was some let's wait and see. He couldn't pass a physical when I got here, you know, because he had a neck injury. So, is he going to be healthy? Is he not going to be healthy? Then going into 2023 we did the contract extension and, you know, that's who we were trying to build around and then obviously had the injury and that decision ultimately didn't work out and we shifted. And we are here today with Jaxson Dart going into year two and you're not paying a quarterback the amount of money that we had invested in Daniel when we made that decision, so we have salary cap flexibility. We have some young core pieces in place. And I know it's talked about at times, but if Jaxson Dart's on the open market or Malik Nabers or Abdul Carter; the deal with Andrew Thomas, that was done a couple years ago, looks good in terms of the rankings. Dexter, (outside linebacker Brian) Burns. I think (defensive end Aidan) Hutchinson just got $40 million. So, I would say key pieces at core positions that on the open market are making an exponential amount of money, we're in a good position in those core positions. And we have draft capital, and we have some flexibility. So, I like where we are moving forward. I'm excited about the young group we have along with the veterans and the resources we have to improve over the offseason.

Q: When you were scouting and evaluating and acquiring players when Brian (Daboll) was here, I imagine it was for what he wanted to do with his scheme, offense, then who he was bringing in as a defensive coordinator. New coach, probably going to have a different viewpoint on offense and defense. How does that change things for you? Or do you believe that the core group of players here you have now are flexible to be able to move and play in whatever and whoever you bring in here?

SCHOEN: That's a lesson I learned just through this process and being a general manager. When you draft players or sign players, you want them to be versatile schematically. Because as we see today and previously, coaches come and go. It's just the reality of it. So guilty of drafting a scheme-specific player before and then coaches come and go, and then maybe those decisions don't work out. So, due to that lesson I learned throughout this process, try to make it where these players are able to be versatile enough to fit into whatever scheme we're in. And I feel like the players on the roster right now can do that.

Q: What did you learn about the search process the first time that's going to change how you approach this go around?

SCHOEN: Having this runway has really helped. There's not a lot of positives of making an in-season coaching change but having this runway to really do a deep dive on a wide array of candidates. I sit in my office and watch Thursday press conferences for coordinators, integration of AI on some things that we've utilized, calling around. Again, it's hard when you're an assistant general manager somewhere and you're on a playoff run, you don't have a job yet to call around and do the amount of research that we can do. When I got hired, I didn't have an assistant general manager. I really didn't have a staff to assist me. It's going to be a very thorough search. I feel really good about the information we've collected already. There's some really good candidates. Again, on both sides of the ball, collegiately, we're going to look everywhere. And then going through it. Sitting in the seat as GM, having a head coach down the hallway, what are those interactions like throughout the calendar year, postgame after a win, postgame after a loss, free agency, draft, the collaboration between the coaching staff and the personnel, what worked, what didn't work. So, a lot of that stuff will help me, because of the experience, identify really what we're looking for in the next coach.

Q: How will you handle, I believe, most of your assistants, probably including Mike Kafka, are under contract for next year. How will you handle it if another team wants, as their search gets started, versus will you block them from doing that until your coach gets here? How will you handle that?

SCHOEN: Yeah, we've had those conversations. I've met a couple of times with the coaching staff in whole. It's unique this year, because the in-person interviews for candidates that are currently with clubs is the 19th in terms of in-person. So, the cycle may be a little bit slower this year. So, my conversations with coaches are like, listen, you guys, you got families, you're talking about kids. If something comes up, communicate with me, and it'll be on a case-by-case basis, because we do have a lot of good coaches on the staff, and there's some that may be in the mix to continue with us. And, again, timing and circumstances, it may not if they have something else.

Q: Of all the difficult things that a GM has to do, draft picks, free agents, fire people, hire people, where do you put on the list of difficulty, gauging the coordinator, the hot coordinator out there, and projecting him to be the next head coach? Because sometimes they make it, very often they don't. The established head coach, you kind of have a handle on, the coordinator, projecting him to be the next guy.

SCHOEN: That's a good question. That's why there's probably more misses than hits when you see this cycle where there's the average I think is seven a year in terms of coaches being fired. So, the deep dive on the research, people that have worked with these individuals, I think is very important. Looking, talking to players, player quotes on different coaches. If you're fortunate enough to get some players that maybe played under those guys, that's important. And then, yeah, the head coach has a track record. You want to know how they manage games. You can go bring up game management situations, which we've done that on some of these candidates. Game management is an important part of it. You can go see how they were in front of the media after wins, after losses. What their record was, it's right there, where they ranked offensively, defensively. So that's a little bit easier because the information there is for you versus a projection with a offensive, defensive coordinator, whoever it may be that hasn't been a head coach in the NFL before.

Q: You talked about the research that you've done for the last seven weeks. Are you guys ready to jump in? I mean, have you already sent out requests for interviews? I mean, are you starting, whether it's tomorrow or Wednesday or this week, to start your interviews for your search?

SCHOEN: Yeah, we're going to start. When I leave here, we're going to go map it out. I've been in player exit interviews from about 8: 30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., so I just ran over here to do this. And then I have not seen ownership yet today. So, again, I'm going to go from here, right in there, and we're going to start mapping this out and interviews will start this week.

Interim Head Coach Mike Kafka

KAFKA: I appreciate you guys hanging out. Just met with every player in the org and went through the positives and the negatives and the things we can improve on. So, it was really good discussions and a lot to look forward to. With that, I'll open it up to you guys.

Q: Did you do individual meetings or position?

KAFKA: Both. We did group meetings, team meeting, group meetings and then individual.

Q: During the season, you did not want to speak about yourself and your position. You wanted to always keep it to the team and the games. Now that the season's over, do you expect to interview for the head coaching job here and do you think you can make a good case that you should have it?

KAFKA: Yeah, I do plan on interviewing. In terms of all the details of that, out of respect for the process, I'll keep it in house.

Q: Okay, but do you feel you've impressed enough people here? Or do you feel you've impressed yourself with the job you've done?

KAFKA: I'm very proud of the work I did here. Obviously, from a results wise, we need to get a few more wins. But I'm really proud of how our guys responded, really proud of our coaching staff, everyone working together towards a common goal and then finishing the season strong with two great wins.

Q: What kind of feedback have you gotten so far and what's been your interaction with not only (senior vice president and general manager) Joe (Schoen), but also ownership?

KAFKA: We haven't gotten there yet. Really just closing out the season with the team meeting and kind of going through exit interviews and exit physicals and things like that. So, haven't gotten to that point.

Q: Do you think you're more equipped now more than ever before to be the head coach either here or somewhere else?

KAFKA: Absolutely, it was a great experience, a great learning experience. I certainly learned a lot about myself, certainly learned about others, leadership, the game. You're asked to do different responsibilities, more game management, operating with the special teams, operating with the defense a little bit more. So, those are all great experiences and absolutely made me much more confident in my abilities to be a head coach.

Q: From a roster standpoint here, obviously (wide receiver) Wan'Dale (Robinson) had a great year. You're an offensive playcaller, not every coach has a need for a 5'8" receiver. Do you see him as much more than that?

KAFKA: Yeah, Wan'Dale really meant a lot to our team in terms of his production but also his leadership. The leadership that he brought to the room, the consistency that he brought to day-to-day basis in terms of practice, games. Wan'Dale certainly meant a lot to us as an offensive unit and his ability to step up for us in critical times and critical third downs. Played inside receiver, played slot receiver, played on the perimeter for us as well when we needed him to. So, I'm a really, really huge fan of Wan'Dale Robinson.

Q: What do you think the biggest growth or steps (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) took this year was from when he started to when he finished the year?

KAFKA: Jaxson continued to grow each and every week. Going through the ups and downs of a season, the ups and downs of a young player, those are going to happen. But I think he never really batted an eye in terms of when things went bad, he never really took the wrong direction. He always saw it as an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to continue to get better, and he had that approach throughout the entire work week, every single week. Just what are the little small things I can continue to improve on as a player? And I really am proud of him for doing that. It's not easy to do, particularly when you're getting criticized from every single different angle. But he never really listened to that. He focused on himself, he focused on the team, he focused on making him a better player for that team, and we needed him to. It gives me all the confidence in the world in the type of player he's going to be.

Q: If the Giants decide to go in a different direction at head coach, you're going to have opportunities elsewhere. One of them, though, could potentially be an opportunity here to return as the offensive coordinator and continue working with Jaxson. Is that something you're open to? Or is it kind of, you too would prefer a fresh start this time?

KAFKA: I'm not going to get into the hypotheticals on it. Just kind of going to take it one day at a time. And we're here today, really had a lot of good meetings and fun meetings and great conversations with the players and I'll just leave it at that.

Q: What do you think of the core of young players that are here, that are going to lead this team going forward? And does that make this place a desirable destination for anyone who would like to be head coach?

KAFKA: There are a lot of really great players on this team, both young and veteran. There's a really good nucleus of guys and there's great leadership there. I think the one point of emphasis that we had was to continue to lead, continue to hold guys accountable, continue to hold people to the standard and there's no substitute for that, right? Don't accept anything less than that. So, that was one of the big messages that we had and that we talked through with leaders of the team and empowering them to do that, right? I think that's what's really important for our group is, it's one thing to say it. But like, alright, here, give them an opportunity to show that leadership, to express that in different ways and I think our guys are built for that. We have a great group of leadership council that can do that and we'll continue to grow and develop even more leaders on our team.

Q: This team spent a lot of time over the last few years trying to build up the offensive line. What was your assessment of how they performed?

KAFKA: Really, really, really proud of our offensive line. Every single week, they were going up against elite pass rushers and stepped up to the task every single time. Hats off to (offensive line coach Carmen) Carm Bricillo and (assistant offensive line coach) James (Ferentz) for getting that room together and getting them all on the same page. But then the players going out there and executing. We're going to ask them whether we're throwing the ball, whether they're running the football, screens, they took really great notes and had an opportunity to really refine in on the details, which is what had been lacking in the past. So, they took that upon themselves to make it a strong point of our team and of our offense and whenever you have an offensive line that can play like that, you're going to have a lot of production on offense. I'm really proud of those guys for stepping up for us.

Q: From that perspective with the offensive line, it seems like the first couple years it was, okay, we've got young players, we want to play young players, some out of necessity, some because you wanted to see them out there. The fact that the group you had this year, especially, and I'm thinking more of (guard Greg) Van Roten, because it seemed like last year he played every snap and then he comes back this year and it's almost like, okay, just waiting for that time when you're going to take him out and put a younger player in, think about the future. Is it a direction now in this league, do you think, that maybe more of an experienced veteran offensive line, rather than pushing younger offensive line that might not be developed as much? Does that lead to, you think, more success offensively than the other option?

KAFKA: I think the best philosophy to have is you play the best players and put them in a position to be successful. Whether they're young, whether they're a veteran, you put the best players out there and that gives you the best position to win.

Q: What's been the directive to you and the other assistants as far as pursuing opportunities elsewhere? Are you free to do that?

KAFKA: We did have that discussion. We've had a couple staff meetings already, Joe was included on that. We'll keep all those discussions in-house on those terms though.

Q: If somebody called you and said how much of a selling point would Jaxson be for this job, or ownership asks you, what would be your response to that?

KAFKA: Those discussions and those opinions of Jaxson, I know I've been very open to those. In terms of my conversations with ownership and stuff like that, I'll keep those close to the chest and there will be an opportunity to express that.

Q: Where would you say you saw (defensive coordinator) Charlie's (Bullen) fingerprints on the defense the last, whatever it was, five or six games?

KAFKA: For Charlie, he's done a great job getting everyone on the same page, really cleaning up the communication, really getting everyone dialed in on just the small details, I think simplifying it. I think that was probably the biggest difference for me was we got a lot of feedback from the players, and Charlie was a part of those conversations of just simplifying our jobs, allowing us to just go play fast, and they did that. You saw that over the course of these last several weeks was the turnovers, the production in the pass rush and the coverage as well. You're seeing even the improvements in the run game, which had been kind of an Achilles heel of us. Those guys have done a really good job honing in on those details and you saw the production of that. So, really proud of Charlie. Working with him on a day-to-day basis and communicating with him how he saw the game, you just saw his ability to adapt, his ability to adjust, not only during the course of the week but in-game, and with great poise. Man, it was just really cool to see him take advantage of his opportunity for us when we needed him the most.

Q: We heard (outside linebacker) Abdul (Carter) spoke up in the postgame locker room yesterday. What growth have you seen from him just in kind of taking ownership these last few games?

KAFKA: Really a lot of growth, really a lot of growth. For Abdul to say that was awesome, because he, number one, spoke about the mistakes he had made and the things that he wanted to fix. The accountability he took, which was from a young player, that was really cool to see. Then for him then to put the work in week in and week out and have the production that he had - and yeah, we all understood what he was saying at the end of that breakdown, in terms of, yeah, the win was cool, it was great. But there's a lot more ahead of us and we need to make sure we come back with the right approach and the right mindset in the offseason.

Q: How encouraging is it to have young players like Jaxson, Abdul, even (tight end) Theo (Johnson) and some of the other guys, how encouraging is it to have those kind of young players willing to step up and say, not only are we going to be leaders, we want to set the example here just to kind of add to the culture here?

KAFKA: I think it's a team, this is a team game. I say it a lot, I say it often, it's never about one person. It's not about just the young guys, everybody's got to buy in. And it's not just the 90-man roster or the coaching staff too, it's everybody in the organization, top to bottom, all got to be on the same page, all aligned with what our goals are and what the mission is. That's going to be the challenge for us this offseason, to get everyone on the same page and get everyone aligned with winning and I think we have the right people to do that. I know we do and I'm excited to go through that process.

Q: Do you have administrative duties now as the head coach for the rest of the week as far as reviews or performance evaluations, all that kind of stuff?

KAFKA: We just finished up with the players. We'll have a couple weeks off here to decompress. But even when you're on vacation, it never really leaves you. I'll have my mind in it. But get away, decompress a little bit from the season, get refreshed, recharged and get ready to go.

Q: If you have other opportunities as a head coach, where would the Giants rank in that?

KAFKA: Again, I'm not going to get into hypotheticals. I love working here. I love working for (president and chief executive officer John K. Mara) Mr. Mara and (executive vice president and chairman of the board Steve Tisch) Mr. Tisch. This family's unbelievable, this ownership group is unbelievable, this city is unbelievable. The team, the players, the coaches, the staff, I really, really love it here. So, I'm going to continue to enjoy it till they tell me I can't anymore. So again, it's been a pleasure and an honor to be in this position, in this role. It's a privilege, not a right, and I understand that. One thing I can say is I gave it everything I had and will continue to do that for this organization as long as they have me.