Giants Joe Schoen, John Harbaugh Skipping Senior Bowl; Why that Matters

The Giants have set their priorities to ensure that John Harbaugh's tenure gets off to the right start, which is why their top two decision-makers are skipping this year's Senior Bowl.

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach John Harbaugh are focused on building Harbaugh's assistant coaching staff. | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and new head coach John Harbaugh are not planning to attend this year’s Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama; the team instead plans to have a heavier scouting presence, a source confirms to New York Giants On SI.

Schoen and Harbaugh, who are being entrusted with building the Giants into a contender as soon as next season, are currently focused on building up Harbaugh’s assistant staff, which is expected to be a large group of men and women, with a heavy lean toward assistants Harbaugh had in Baltimore.

General Manager Joe Schoen, left, and Head Coach John Harbaugh will collaborate on personnel moves moving forward, with Harbaugh believed to have a greater say than previous Giants head coaches. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

That the Giants’ top leadership pair won’t be attending the Senior Bowl in itself isn’t that big of a deal, as in addition to having scouting opportunities on the participants, there are also networking opportunities with potential assistant coaching candidates. 

But again, Harbaugh is widely expected to bring with him a number of his staff members from the Ravens who were either on the staff last year or were on previous iterations of Harbaugh’s staff. 

Among those who have already been reported to have joined Harbaugh’s Giants staff, such as running backs coach Willie Taggart, defensive line coach Dennis Johnson, special teams coordinator Chris Horton, defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson (Harbaugh’s defensive backs coach in 2023 before taking the Titans defensive coordinator job), assistant linebackers coach Matt Pees, running backs quality control coach Adam Schrack, defensive backs quality control coach Brendan Clark, data analyst Noah Riley, and assistant Megan Rosburg.

As for the in-person scouting of the Senior Bowl participants, the organizers do a good job of making tape of the practices and games available, tape that Schoen and Harbaugh will be able to consume once they get further along in building the coaching staff.

Among the next dominos that need to fall for Harbaugh include offensive coordinator, where Todd Monken is still the favorite if he doesn’t get the Cleveland Browns head coaching job; offensive line coach, where George Warhop, who held the same role for Harbaugh in Baltimore is believed to be the favorite to replace Carmen Bricillo, and quarterbacks coach, where Tee Martin, the Ravens quarterbacks coach from 2023-2025, is thought to be the front runner. 

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