INDIANAPOLIS — Giants head coach John Harbaugh and GM Joe Schoen didn’t divulge their entire 2026 offseason plan on Tuesday at the NFL Combine. In fact, they laid far fewer breadcrumbs than in previous years of Schoen’s tenure.
But they did cover a lot of the key players and topics that will be critical to determining how they build this roster for the regular season next fall. Here are 10 key takeaways from Harbaugh and Schoen, who each did two media availabilities: one on the podium and a second off camera with the traveling New York media, including the Daily News.
1. Schoen said he fell behind in his normal scouting process this year due to the Giants’ coaching search and is still cramming to catch up.
“I was behind, but this past week I was crushing it in the office doing film, because the research for the head coach it did set me back,” he said. “That was my priority. first and foremost, to find the best head coach for the New York Giants. So I spent a lot of time in December when I would normally be watching film doing a lot of research on the coaching candidates.”
Schoen said: “I wasn’t able to go the Senior Bowl, the East-West Game, so this will be my first opportunity to get in front of these guys,” meaning the college draft prospects, “and get to know them.
“So I feel like I’m in a good spot from a free agency standpoint,” he added. “In the last week, I’ve been able to play catch-up on the college draft prospects, and I’ll continue to do so. But really going to start focusing on free agency this week with the meetings that we’re going to have and then the strategy and planning starting next week.”
2. The Giants GM sang the praises of edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, his former No. 5 overall pick. But Thibodeaux, who carries a $14.7 million cap hit next season in a pricy pass rush rotation, still profiles as a player who could be traded this spring. And Schoen left the door open for that possibility.
“Right now, Kayvon’s gonna be with us,” Schoen said first. “He played well. He’s going into his fifth year and he’s motivated, and you can’t have enough pass rushers. You really can’t. I’m proud of the development and the maturation of Kayvon. He’s come a long way, and I expect big things next year out of him with that rotation.”
Then Schoen was asked if he had gotten trade calls on Thibodeaux recently.
“We got calls on him at the trade deadline,” he said of the fall, confirming what has been reported. “Kayvon was probably one of the more popular ones. Having just got here [to Indianapolis] and haven’t really talked to anybody, I haven’t heard anything yet. But my job as the general manager is if people come and they ask if I’m gonna be interested in trading – if we’re interested in their players – you take into consideration everything. Doesn’t mean we’re gonna do it. But we’re always gonna listen.”
So the Giants are listening if calls come in on a player who was a “popular” trade target in October.
3. Harbaugh said corner Cor’dale Flott, slot receiver Wan’Dale Robinson and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor are “all guys that we want back.” But the Giants are still the process of determining what their market will be.
“The bottom line is I saw all guys that we want back,” the coach said. “You want the guys back. Now, do we have the wherewithal to bring them back? Is it a good use of resources which is the cap? That’s the next part of the conversation. That’s the planning that’s taken place, and we’ll find out more this week what the values are and what’s realistic.:
Schoen indicated the decision on Robinson could be about exactly how prominently Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy intend to feature a slot receiver of that skill set in their offense.
The GM also seemed to indicate that Eluemunor has a chance to return at the right price and alluded to Flott either being expected to leave or potentially overplaying his hand on the open market and returning when he said: “Flott had a good year, we’ll see what he gets.”
“Wan’Dale caught over 90 balls the last two years, he’s an 1,000 yard receiver,” Schoen said. “How much are we going to use the slot receiver? Is it going to be an integral part of the offense? You have those conversations.
“Right tackle, you need a right tackle regardless,” he said. “And Jermaine was actually with Baltimore, so he has a relationship with Coach in the past. But a receiver like Wan’Dale, you definitely have to have those conversations to make sure you’re gonna get value from the player if you’re gonna pay him what he’s probably gonna get.”
4. Harbaugh interestingly mentioned free agent Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely, a potential Giants target, when discussing his opinion of what could make a good option in the slot in an NFL offense.
“We like them. We’re in favor of slot receivers. We like those guys,” Harbaugh said with a smile. “It doesn’t really matter what type of slot receiver. You just need a good one. Cooper Kupp does it his way, [Julian] Edelman did it his way, Zay Flowers does it his way. Sometimes you’re inside, sometimes you’re outside.
“Sometimes it’s a tight end,” he continued. “I think about Isaiah Likely or Mark Andrews is in the slot, maybe [Daniel] Bellinger go out there and play the slot. It just depends how you build that gameplan.”
5. Schoen was asked if Dexter Lawrence is definitely going to be on the Giants’ roster this season. He said: “The plan is for Dexter to be on the roster.” The GM said Lawrence has not asked for an extension or new contract and the Giants “have not gotten calls on Dex.”
“I don’t know where the Dex stuff’s coming from,” Schoen said, seeming genuinely confused.
Here’s where it’s coming from: Lawrence is exhausted from all the losing and dysfunction. Some of his best friends and teammates have won Super Bowls the last two years after escaping the Giants.
It was Saquon Barkley with the Eagles last year and Leonard Williams and Julian Love with the Seattle Seahawks this year.
A new contract might be the best way to reclaim some trust with Lawrence, the Giants’ best player when he’s healthy and at the top of his game, and to assure him of where this is headed. But Schoen said: “Nine sacks might have been an outlier the year before, so the expectation rises.” That didn’t sound like someone who intended to give Lawrence a raise at the moment.
The GM did circle back, though, to say that Lawrence “still has a lot of good years left. And it wasn’t just Dexter last year in terms of I can’t put anything on him [with last year’s defense]. The expectation is he’s gonna be on the team and come back and have a really good season for us.”
Harbaugh, meanwhile, has not met Lawrence in person yet. But he has spoken to him and said” “I don’t think he needs that assurance.”
“I don’t think it’s my job to assure him,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Let’s go to work together. We’re both together for a reason.’ I look at it that way. That’s just how I just view the universe. There’s purpose. So we’re Giants. he and I together. God brought us together for this very time. So what are we gonna do with it?
“I had that conversation with him,” he said. “I feel like he feels that way. He’s excited. So I really don’t have to think that way, because I already know we’re there. How important is he? Really important. Super important. He’s a cornerstone football player. He’s more like a middle stone. He’s right in the middle. But he’s a very big stone and he’s a very active, athletic stone. So we want him in there. We want him. We need him.”
6. With Dawn Aponte running the Giants’ salary cap, Harbaugh said he is open to whatever mechanisms make the most sense to build the best and most efficient team, regardless of whether those strategies are rooted in his Ravens history, the Giants’ way of doing things or otherwise.
“I’m open to strategy of any kind,” he said. “You’ve got to look at every possible option to build the best team you can the most efficient way you can, and then you gotta try to be right. Because when you make mistakes, that’s when it costs you. It costs you the resources that aren’t paying off. So that’s the bottom line.
“The Ravens have done more voidable years in the last couple years than they did,” he said. “They were a flat cap team. Now they’re not as much. But you’re still not like the [Philadelphia] Eagles, [who defer and spread cap hits into extra void years in a lot of player deals]. You’ve got to kind of figure out where you want to go in that point in time. It’s not a moral question. It’s a strategic question.”
7. Schoen admitted he has “evolved” in his thinking of positional value when asked about the possibility of drafting a player at a less premium position high, such as a running back or a safety. This was an intriguing comment because Notre Dame running back Jeremyiah Love and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs are both projected top 10 picks this spring, and the Giants hold the No. 5 overall selection. Downs would fill a big need on the defense, too.
“Have I evolved? Yes. Do I like it? No,” Schoen said. “When you think about what Malik [Nabers] would get on the open market or even Jaxson [Dart] or Abdul [Carter], you get a surplus value from taking those players where you took them. And there’s some positions where you don’t get the benefit of that. But does that mean I won’t take a player because of that? No. I’ll take the best player available.”
8. Harbaugh, when asked about his stance in the positional value debate, notably identified middle linebacker as a position that he considers extremely important for any team regardless of other factors. That’s interesting given that Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles could be in play in the top 10, as well.
“I go back to [Ravens Hall of Fame GM] Ozzie Newsome always saying ‘best player available,’ but you always knew that was a caveat to need,” Harbaugh said. “It depends on what you need. But at the end of the day, you gotta put as many good football players that play the way you want to play out there.
“You don’t want to sacrifice a really good player because it’s not a need or value position,” he added. “The inside linebacker isn’t always considered a value position, but you can’t stop the run without an inside linebacker making tackles in the middle. Can’t do it. So I think everything’s important.”
9. Harbaugh admitted he wanted his first Giants defense to lean on the scheme and principles that they preferred and emphasized in Baltimore during his tenure. So Dennard Wilson’s familiarity, as a Ravens defensive backs coach in 2023, was a key reason for his hiring.
“First of all, Dennard’s talent and his ability,” Harbaugh said. “His tenacity, his determination. I think he’s really smart. He has a great knowledge of the game. He’s an excellent teacher. He’s very demanding, and yet he’s very relationship oriented.
And at the end of the day, I wanted to stay in the system,” he added. “It’s a system that we built over a long time, and that’s a system we will be continuing to run. And he represents that, as well.”
10. New quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan, the son of longtime NFL offensive line coach Bill Callahan, can help young quarterback Jaxson Dart learn a lot, including how to understand protections, the reasons behind them and the benefits of different alignments, Harbaugh said.
“Look at his record, right? He’s proven,” he said of Callahan. “And I didn’t really know Brian that well. It wasn’t like we had a close relationship, but we started to talk football in those interviews, and I became really impressed with his knowledge and also his demeanor.
“He’s got a great understanding of every part of offensive football,” he continued. “Passing game, run game, protections. I mean, your dad’s Bill Callahan, you’re gonna have a great understanding of protections. The fact he’s gonna be able to immerse our quarterback in that understanding of the game, especially the protection standpoint but every part of it, is gonna be good for our offense.”
