When the Giants fired former head coach Brian Daboll (now the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans) on Nov. 10 of last year, the team was 2-8 with no realistic path to the playoffs. They won just two more games and finished the 17-game NFL season with a record of 4-13. Overall, Daboll’s Giants tenure produced a record of 21-41-1, a .341 winning percentage.
He led the team to one playoff appearance, going 9-7-1 in the 2022 campaign, earning a wildcard berth and one postseason victory — with the Giants defeating the Minnesota Vikings in a wildcard game before losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round.
Now the Giants turn to John Harbaugh. The decision came from the franchise’s leadership: co-owner John Mara, his sons John Mara Jr. and Chris Mara, and general manager Joe Schoen. They concluded that a steady, proven winner was needed to reset the team’s navigational instruments.
The 63-year-old Harbaugh had been let go by the Baltimore Ravens after a remarkable 18-year term as their head coach during which he had the most regular season (180-113) and postseason coaching wins in the franchise’s history. He captured six AFC North division titles and one Super Bowl, beating his younger brother Jim, then the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31 in the classic SB XLVII (47) in February 2013.
But it is winning just one Super Bowl that ultimately was a fundamental reason Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti fired Harbaugh. The Ravens have fallen short of returning to the Super Bowl with rosters in recent years that arguably have been the best in the NFL, spotlighted by quarterback Lamar Jackson, a two-time NFL MVP (2019, 2023), MVP runner-up (2025) and three-time First Team All-Pro (2019, 2023, 2024).
“I just hope you respect me enough to know that 100 percent my instincts told me that this was the time,” Bisciotti said, speaking with the media one week after the move.
While head coaching stability has been a pillar of the Ravens, Harbaugh is the Giants’ fifth head coach since 2018, including interim head coach Mike Kafka, who replaced Daboll for the remainder of last season. Harbaugh’s charge is to end the unenviable trend of losing and reconstruct the Giants into a perennial playoff contender.
A key component of that objective is wide receiver Malik Nabers. A 2024 first round pick (No. 6 overall) from LSU, Nabers flashed All-Pro potential as a rookie, amassing 109 receptions, 1,204 yards receiving, seven touchdowns, and a Pro Bowl spot. But he suffered a torn ACL and meniscus injury in his right knee last September, in Week 4, and was out for the rest of the season.
He has been carefully working his way back at the Giants training camp being held in Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
“I’d say it’s part of the process,” responded Harbaugh when asked about Nabers sitting out last Friday’s session. “He’s worked real hard, he’s made a lot of progress, and that’s what he decided to do today.”
The Giants open their preseason schedule on August 15 (1:00 p.m) at MetLife Stadium versus the Minnesota Vikings.
