Joe Schoen on Saquon Barkley, franchise tag, NFL Draft, trading up for a QB, Daniel Jones, Brian Daboll, coaching dysfunction and more
Giants GM Joe Schoen met with the media Tuesday morning at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and also communicated directly with fans online.
He addressed the possibility of trading up in the NFL Draft, his free agency plans for Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney, the future of Daniel Jones, Brian Daboll, the offensive line, the Giants’ coaching dysfunction and more.
Here are some highlights:
ON BARKLEY AND THE FRANCHISE TAG
Schoen said Barkley is “a guy we’d like to have back,” and the GM will meet with Barkley’s agent this week at the Combine to “see if we can get something done with him.”
Interestingly, though, Schoen dangled the possibility that he could use the franchise tag a second straight year, even though he said that is not his preference (and despite Barkley wanting a long-term deal).
“I wouldn’t say the franchise tag’s off the table,” Schoen said.
That’s partially because Schoen said he looks primarily at the “running back market value” when determining a fair deal. And this year’s franchise tag number for RBs ($11.9 million) isn’t much lower than the $12.1 million salary Barkley would get if he were tagged a second straight year.
“So the [higher than expected] salary cap changes your philosophy and how you’re gonna attack things,” Schoen said of the NFL’s $255.4 million cap ceiling for 2024. “So that’s not off the table. And again, we don’t wanna do that. In a perfect world, we don’t wanna do that again. But we’re gonna have conversations. We’re gonna talk through it.”
“And I know he says he wants a fair deal,” Schoen added. “And I appreciate that. And ultimately we gotta do what’s best for the franchise short term and long term, and we’ll take all those things into account.”
Later, Schoen said the running back free agent market is “deep” and mentioned three players by name: the Chargers’ Austin Ekeler, the Texans’ Devin Singletary and the Colts’ Zack Moss. Singletary and Moss were both Bills draft picks when Schoen was Buffalo’s assistant GM.
ON DABOLL POSSIBLY CALLING PLAYS IN 2024
Schoen was asked if he would be OK with Daboll calling plays on offense in 2024, and he said he will let Daboll decide how he coaches the team. This reinforces the belief that Daboll will call plays on offense in 2024.
“I’m never gonna tell him what to do,” Schoen said. “That’s his world. I’ll be a sounding board. I’ll give advice. But I’m never gonna tell him what to do as a coach. So if he decided he ever wanted to do that, that’s up to him. I’m never gonna tell him one way or the other what to do on the field. That’s his world.”
Daboll is not scheduled to address the media in Indianapolis, similar to last year.
ON BELIEVING IN DANIEL JONES AT QUARTERBACK
Schoen said: “I have faith in Daniel as our starting quarterback.” And he seemed defensive when asked if winning a Super Bowl was still his barometer for the Giants’ QB position.
“Yeah, that’s the ultimate goal for everybody is to win a Super Bowl,” Schoen said. “So we wanna win a Super Bowl. It’s not one position. You gotta build a good team. You gotta have surrounding parts. There’s a lot of good quarterbacks that haven’t won Super Bowls. So you gotta have a good team.”
“It’s not just the quarterback position,” the GM continued. “I understand your question. But I think you gotta continue to build a team around the quarterback. It’s an important position, but I think you gotta build the pieces around him on both sides of the ball in all three phases.”
Schoen said Jones’ rehab continues to progress well. He’s been “throwing for about two weeks” in a stationary position. And he’s likely to be ready for training camp barring any setbacks.
But Schoen also said Jones “understands that we’re gonna need to add a quarterback.” And Schoen made it sound like he intends to bring in “a veteran quarterback through free agency,” on top of considering one in the NFL Draft.
“We’ll address the position,” he said, including Tyrod Taylor as an option. “It could be through free agency, and it doesn’t preclude us from doing it in the draft, as well.”
ON POSSIBLY TRADING UP IN THE NFL DRAFT
Schoen seemed lukewarm about trading up from pick No. 6 in April’s NFL Draft, at least early on in the spring. During an online Q&A with fans, Schoen noted that the 49ers struck out on their 2021 trade up for Trey Lance before finding Brock Purdy in the seventh round — and putting him into a favorable position with great talent around him.
“They tried to go up and get a quarterback, and now he’s with Dallas,” Schoen said.
Schoen basically said he can’t answer that question until he gets familiar with all the quarterbacks and gets through the first wave of free agency. He remembered, for example, that he and the Bills were doing a private workout with Josh Allen in March 2019 when they heard about the Jets trading up from No. 6 to 3 to eventually pick Sam Darnold.
“I think at that position, it’s a different stratosphere,” Schoen said. “You gotta get around these kids and you gotta get to know them. And until you’re able to do that, it’s hard to make those type of moves.”
“So we were still going through our process at the time in Buffalo to get around those prospects,” he added. “And then once we were comfortable, that’s when you make that type of move.”
He also said trading up to No. 3 would “be hard to do until you’re on the clock” if you didn’t know for sure what the teams at picks Nos. 1 and 2 are doing. In other words, it’s one thing to covet a player; it’s another to know he’ll be available at a certain pick.
But Schoen summarized that “this is the start” of the Giants’ process there and called it “an exciting time.” Time will tell if he pursues one of these prospects via trade anywhere from late March through draft night in late April.
OFFENSIVE LINE ‘A PRIORITY’
Schoen said this of the offensive line: “We need to improve as a starting five, and we need to improve the depth. And that’ll be a priority this offseason.” That’s improving the entire offensive line room, essentially. Good to hear.
“We’ve got to play better,” Schoen said of the line. “There were some games that we didn’t play very well. And it’s a revolving door. Five players have to be working together. That’s almost half your offense. And when you’re [working with a] revolving door and [there’s a] lack of communication, that’ll show up when you’re playing some of those good teams that we played early on in the season.”
But obviously, several Schoen personnel moves up front also have backfired in big ways. The GM said of Evan Neal, though: “[We] still have confidence in him at right tackle.” So that will be interesting to watch.
ON MCKINNEY’S FREE AGENCY
Schoen said the Giants would like to have McKinney back. They haven’t started official negotiations, only had some conversations with McKinney. And they “have a meeting planned” with his agent, David Mulugheta, for when he arrives in Indianapolis on Friday.
“Xavier is another player that we’d like to have back,” the GM said. “He’s 24 years old. He was a captain, played 100% of the snaps, and we think a lot of ‘X.’ And [we] look forward to getting [into] the negotiation period here later this week.”
Schoen did say that it was a “pleasant surprise” to see the NFL’s salary cap come in at $255.4 million, because the Giants were being “conservative” and “operating in the $241-243 [million] range” prior to getting that news over the weekend.
So they’re also going to “recalibrate” this week on how or if that alters their free agency plans.
ON THE GIANTS’ COACHING DYSFUNCTION
Schoen was spinning like a top discussing the Giants’ coaching dysfunction in 2023.
He said during his Q&A with fans that “some of those articles come from sources that have an agenda; maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle.”
He claimed he would have gotten on the headsets during four Giants games late in the season even if the Giants had “been 9-0.”
He said: “I wish some of the guys that left nothing but the best.”
He said there’s “no tension” between Daboll and Mike Kafka, and the team promoted Kafka to continue developing him as a future head coach.
And he pointed to how the team “competed” down the stretch — although when asked about the messy end to the season with the coaches, he started his answer with: “You’d have to ask Dabes that.”
– With Antwan Staley
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