NEW YORK — The Giants have their man.
Buffalo Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen will be their next general manager, according to sources.
Schoen, 42, will have to start interviewing head coaching candidates immediately. He leaves a Bills team that he helped turn into an AFC contender that is close to possibly getting over the hump to a Super Bowl berth.
The Giants chose Schoen over the 49ers’ Adam Peters and the Chiefs’ Ryan Poles.
“It is an honor to accept the position of general manager of the New York Giants,” Schoen said in a statement released by the team. “I want to thank John Mara and Steve Tisch and their families for this tremendous opportunity. And obviously I am grateful to Brandon and the Bills for the experience I have had in Buffalo.
“Now, the work begins,” Schoen continued. “My immediate focus is to hire a head coach, with who I will work in lockstep with to create a collaborative environment for our football operations. We will cast a wide net, it can be former head coaches, first-time head coaches but, more importantly, it has to be a person who possesses the ability to lead an organization and the ability to motivate and develop players. On the personnel side, we will begin to evaluate our roster and prepare for the draft and free agency. Our goal is to build a roster that will be competitive, have depth, and most importantly, win football games.”
“We are pleased and proud to name Joe as our general manager,” said Giants co-owner John Mara. “Throughout our search, Joe impressed us with his ability to communicate a progressive and comprehensive vision for our team. His philosophy and collaborative approach to building a roster and coaching staff align with what we were looking for in a general manager.”
Schoen is just the Giants’ fifth general manager since 1979. He succeeds Dave Gettleman, who went 19-46 in four years and drove the franchise further into irrelevance.
The Giants have played and lost one playoff game in the last decade.
He interviewed twice with John Mara, Steve Tisch and Chris Mara before getting the job. He is a first-time GM.
“Joe is the kind of exceptional leader we sought to oversee our football operations,” Tisch said in a statement. “We will do whatever it takes to support Joe’s vision and strategic plan for success. We are excited to begin this next chapter with Joe as our general manager.”
“Steve and I were both impressed with all nine candidates,” Mara said in a statement. “We came away from this process feeling like all nine will be a general manager in this league at some point. We just felt like Joe was the right fit at the right time for us.”
Since joining the Bills in 2017, Schoen — pronounced “Shane” — has teamed with general manager Brandon Beane to make Buffalo a regular postseason participant and current championship contender. The Bills, who won their second straight AFC East title this season, visit Kansas City Sunday for a divisional playoff game.
But Schoen is now a Giant and faces the task of turning this franchise around.
