Joe Schoen did what his background told him not to, and the Giants are paying a huge price

When general manager Brandon Beane and assistant GM Joe Schoen took over the Buffalo Bills in 2017, they went to a full rebuild path. Cleaning the salary cap and almost completely replenishing the roster were big parts of the process, and the first season included keeping a bridge quarterback in Tyrod Taylor and tons of money in dead cap.

Things went better than expected under head coach Sean McDermott, with a 9-7 finish and a playoff spot. However, that result didn't change the big picture. They needed a franchise quarterback and more talent on the roster, and they went after it in 2018 moving up to grab Josh Allen.

That successful rebuild was the main reason why Joe Schoen was hired to be the New York Giants general manager in 2022. Curiously enough, a similar initial season happened for Schoen with head coach Brian Daboll, the former Bills offensive coordinator.

They tried to create flexibility in their first season. Daniel Jones was supposed to be a bridge quarterback for the new regime. And the team also went better than expected, with a 9-7-1 season and a playoff spot. The campaign included a playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings, but the 38-7 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round showed the Giants were still far away from real contention — or at least should have.

In the following offseason, Schoen decided to keep the offensive core. And for that to happen, they extended Daniel Jones with a four-year, $160 million deal, freeing up the franchise tag to keep running back Saquon Barkley.

What went wrong

The differences in approach have proven to be costly for the Giants, and they were closely followed by the fans on Hard Knocks.

Over the following season after those questionable decisions, Daniel Jones had an awful season and got hurt, the Giants can't cut him before 2025, and Barkley left in free agency anyway to sign with the NFC East rivals Philadelphia Eagles.

Right now, the Giants are treading water. It's virtually impossible for them to be a real contender, and you can make a case for them being the worst situation in the division — at least the Washington Commanders drafted what can be a franchise quarterback in Jayden Daniels .

In 2023, had Schoen repeated what the Bills did five years earlier with the Bills, the Giants would be in a much better and healthier situation now.

The option would probably have been drafting Will Levis with the 24th pick. It's still too early to judge the decision to pick cornerback Deonte Banks, but getting a rookie quarterback would have changed the franchise's destiny.

It's still unclear at this point what Levis can be for the Tennessee Titans, but at least the Giants would have immediate hope — and much more financial flexibility to build a strong roster around him. With the extra money from not extending Jones, the Giants could have easily given a fair contract to Barkley — and made other additions of players like Jerry Jeudy, who became available because of his contract situation .

Joe Schoen had a positive blueprint for how to build the Giants. But overachieving in 2022 took the Giants off the rails, and now it's harder to put them back on track.

Related: When and how the New York Giants can get rid of Daniel Jones' contract