New York Giants co-owner John Mara took quite a bit of heat this week after announcing that he was retaining both general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll after a second consecutive miserable season.

After making the baffling decision to retain the failed third-year regime of general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll, Giants co-owner John Mara tried to explain himself. Mara — though not co-owner Steve Tisch — spoke to reporters Monday morning, in the wake of the news that Schoen and Daboll would return for Year 4 in 2025.

The Giants had the No. 1 pick in their grasp heading into Week 17 but then they beat the Colts, which dropped them out of the top spot, making it far more difficult to land quarterback Shedeur Sanders. There was no thought in Mara’s mind that his team should lose in order to retain that top pick.

New York Giants co-owner John Mara knows fans were rooting for a “tank” but he would have “fired everybody” had they actually tanked.

But as the season spiraled and Daniel Jones was replaced by Tommy DeVito, then Drew Lock, then DeVito, then Tim Boyle and then Lock again, the weight of Mara’s support started to fade extrinsically. At times, starting over made sense. At other points, the scenario of Schoen staying and Daboll going emerged as a possibility, too.

That list of free agents, who can officially begin negotiating with other teams on March 10, includes several who played key roles for the Giants in 2024. Among them are safety Ja