Joe Schoen speaks out on his Giants role with John Harbaugh changing reporting structure

INDIANAPOLIS — Joe Schoen, more than anyone, knows what it took to get it done. He understands how many waking hours and sleepless nights went into it, fully realizes that it happened. Still there are moments when the general manager of the Giants — yes, he retains that title and fills that role — pauses and allows himself to revel in what went down and what it means.

“So, yeah, some days I just pinch myself, I’m like, ‘man, John Harbaugh’s our head coach,’ ’’ Schoen said Tuesday from the NFL scouting combine. “This guy’s won a ton of games. He’s a really good head coach and just listening to him talk and how he thinks, and the leadership that he provides to the building, it’s been really cool.’’

Now the challenge is to turn “really cool’’ into real success. To lift the franchise out of the doldrums, Harbaugh and Schoen must work together. And they will. Schoen’s role, despite reports or speculation to the contrary, has not been marginalized or minimized.

“I’m still the general manager of the team, my role has not changed,’’ he said. “I’m still tasked with leading the entire football operation and we’re going to work in collaboration like most good teams do.’’

The hiring of Dawn Aponte as senior vice president of football operations and strategy raised some eyebrows, as far as what it meant to Schoen, even though that is the exact title that Kevin Abrams held with the team for more than two decades. Aponte, since 2017, has been the NFL’s chief football administrative officer, and previously worked for three NFL teams (Dolphins, Browns, Jets). In a departure from the way the Giants have operated in the past, Aponte — in charge of the salary cap and negotiating contracts, among other duties — will report directly to Harbaugh.

Why was this structure important to Harbaugh?

Giants general manager Joe Schoen speaks to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 24, 2026. AP

“I don’t think it’s important in any other way than just trying to figure out a way how we want to operate and be our best,’’ Harbaugh said. “It’s like building your team, right? You got players, you try to build your schemes around who you have and make it work the best way it’s gonna work. We want our operation format to fit the people that we have. Joe and I were figuring everything out, and not just Joe and I, but also, [co-owners] John [Mara], Chris [Mara], they were very involved, but mainly us. How do we want to operate? Who do we want to put in charge of what? Who do we want to talk to who? What’s the best way to make it work? And I’m sure there’ll always be evolving for what’s best at any given time. We organize it the way we organize it because we felt like this is the best way to be effective.’’

Schoen worked with Aponte with the Dolphins and called her “a tremendous resource with a lot of experience. I will lean on Dawn in terms of her expertise and her background when I see fit.’’

Harbaugh harped on himself, Schoen and Aponte needing to be aligned and “the idea that there’s too much hierarchy or silos or separate fences and things like that just can’t be a part of it.

“Someone like Dawn helps Joe and I, the three of us really working together to make sure all of our systems are integrated,’’ Harbaugh said.

Giants head coach John Harbaugh speaks to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 24, 2026. Getty Images

It will be Schoen who this week meets with agents of the Giants’ impending free agents on fact-finding missions to determine if the two sides are on the same page as far as loose contract parameters.

Schoen has been through all this before but never with someone of Harbaugh’s pedigree riding alone in the front seat, a 63-year-old Super Bowl winner coming off 18 years as the Ravens head coach.

“As you’re getting to know somebody, no matter what the relationship is, you’re trying to feel how people communicate, how they operate, do I go down to his office, does he come down to mine?’’ Schoen said. “Do I text him? Does he text back? You’re feeling through all that stuff initially in the relationship, but it’s been phenomenal so far.’’

The bonding is ongoing. Schoen needed to know what Harbaugh wanted to take from Baltimore and initiate with the Giants.

“They drafted well in Baltimore and they won a lot of games,’’ Schoen said. “We don’t have all the answers, there’s tweaks that we can make in our process that will make us better and I’m open to that.

“He’s been involved in 18 drafts, so he knows what a third-round pick looks like, a second-rounder. He’s unique from that standpoint that he can assign a value to the players, and he’s been pretty spot on, from the evaluations he’s done this far.’’