The free agents who could fit John Harbaugh’s first Giants roster — and in-house options that might not

As Joe Schoen exchanged text messages with head coach John Harbaugh during the divisional playoffs, two things became clear to the general manager about the type of player his new partner wants to add to the Giants.

“Guys that love football, [and] he likes big players,” Schoen said. “[He was] in the AFC North, so that was a physical division with tough players.”

Harbaugh was complimentary of the job the Giants have done assembling talent. Call it validation of the “young core” argument that owner John Mara used for retaining Schoen.

“I see a lot of really good players when I look at the roster,” Harbaugh said. “Well, not the roster so much as the tape. That’s where you look — at the tape. It shows you. It’s on the tape.”