Big Blue View
If you believe New York Giants GM Joe Schoen, tabbed by ownership to begin the organization’s search for a new head coach, that effort has barely begun.
“We’re going to do everything we can right now to support [interim head coach Mike] Kafka,” Schoen said at his bye week press conference. “That’s our primary focus right now is to give Kafka everything he needs in order to succeed over these next four weeks, support him and his staff. At the appropriate time, we’ll get into potential coaches research and we’ll do thorough collaborative research and come up with the best coach to lead the New York Giants going into the 2026 season.”
Schoen also said on Tuesday that he believes the Giants’ opening “will be an attractive job for many coaches.”
Whether Schoen is still the general manager when the Giants select the replacement for the fired Brian Daboll remains to be seen. Despite what he said about not having fully begun the search, you can bet that Schoen has been working to at least find who does and does not want to be considered.
Let’s look at some of the potential candidates, and the recent news about them.
The 39-year-old Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator is expected to be hotly sought after when the 2026 coaching carousel begins in January.
Rams insider Erin Coscarelli of the Bleav in Rams podcast and FanDuel Sports Network West was a guest recently on the ‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast. She wondered if Shula, who will have options, would see New York as the right opportunity.
“I don’t know if he’d be interested in to go from an LA very comfortable winning culture and then having to totally redevelop it and and reinvest in it and really start from scratch,” Coscarelli said. “There’s not a better guy that can do it, but is it the right opportunity for him? I wonder.”
Reality is, though, there are only 32 NFL head-coaching jobs.
“Not a lot of these types of opportunities come up for these potential coaches,” Coscarelli said. “I think for him, for Chris Shula, it’s is he capable of putting a staff in place where he can focus on the defense and give your quarterback and the culture sort of a boost that it hasn’t seen before. And I agree with you, there’s something about why is it so hard to coach a winning franchise for the Giants? I wonder that myself.”
The Giants clearly need a culture change. One of the questions with any first-time head coach is whether or not that person can lead an entire room, whether or not he can establish a standard and hold players accountable to it.
“He has a football legacy. He is an alpha male. He can connect with other young alpha males and he finds a way to bring people together. Obviously, he’s learned it from the best in Coach McVay. It translates in bringing out the best in...
