Giants’ Joe Schoen opens up about relationship with John Harbaugh

TL;DR

Giants GM Joe Schoen discussed his strong relationship with head coach John Harbaugh, emphasizing their shared vision for the team's future. Their collaboration is generating optimism for the upcoming 2026 season.

Key points

Joe Schoen is the General Manager of the New York Giants.
John Harbaugh is the new head coach of the Giants.
Schoen and Harbaugh share a common vision for the team.
Their relationship began during the interview process.
There is optimism for the Giants' 2026 season.

Mentioned in this story

New York GiantsJoe SchoenJohn Harbaugh

There’s a reason the New York Giants are generating real optimism heading into the 2026 season, and it has everything to do with what’s happening between the front office and the coaching staff.

On the latest episode of “The Insiders,” Giants General Manager Joe Schoen sat down with Mike Garafolo and Judy Battista, and finally revealed the inner workings of his relationship with new head coach John Harbaugh.

It’s not just that Schoen and Harbaugh get along. It’s that they are genuinely building toward the same thing, on the same timeline, with the same vision.

“It started with the interview process,” Schoen said in a clip shared on X/Twitter. “We were the first team to interview him and the only team to interview him.”

In a league where head coaching searches can drag on for weeks with multiple franchises chasing the same candidates, the Giants locked in on Harbaugh and didn’t look back.

But landing a coach is only the beginning. What happens next — the free agency grind, the pre-draft process, the war room decisions — is where GM-coach relationships are truly tested.

“Going through free agency and the draft and the combine and the communicating on how to build a roster and a staff,” Schoen said, “he put together a really good coaching staff, so felt like we had a lot of wins just from January till today.”

Before a single regular season snap has been taken, Schoen is already counting victories.

A strong coaching hire. A productive free agency. A draft class headlined by two top-10 picks, including linebacker Arvell Reese falling to fifth overall. These are the building blocks of a competitive team, and they all point back to a front office and coaching staff that are speaking the same language.

“The relationship’s been great, you know, aligned in the way that we’re building the team, and excited to get everybody in here next week at rookie minicamp and see how it’s going to look,” Schoen said.