Adam Peters and Joe Schoen may be the type of well-rounded GM candidates Giants are pursuing
San Francisco Assistant General Manager Adam Peters walks the sideline during warm-ups before an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough) Credit: AP/Gary McCullough
Now comes the hard part.
The Giants will wrap up their first round of virtual general manager interviews on Monday when they meet with Adam Peters and Ran Carthon of the 49ers.
After that they will begin whittling down their list of nine candidates to those they would like to see for in-person follow-ups.
Then at some point, gulp, they’ll have to hire someone.
John Mara promised to hold a "comprehensive" search, and by most accounts, it’s been just that. Their initial list includes executives from six other franchises, mostly with scouting backgrounds, some of whom played in the NFL themselves.
Not all of them would seem to fit easily into the job description Mara put forth when the position opened up, however.
"We are looking for a person who demonstrates exceptional leadership and communication abilities," Mara said last week, "somebody who will oversee all aspects of our football operations, including player personnel, college scouting and coaching."
It’s the last part that could trip up some candidates. The first task for whoever gets this job will be heading a search for a new head coach. That will be a very new experience for many of them.
Joe Hortiz, director of player personnel for the Ravens, has a stellar resume as a scouting sharpshooter but has worked for the same organization for 24 years. The last time Baltimore was in the market for a head coach was 2008. They went from Brian Billick to John Harbaugh while Hortiz was a national scout for the organization. It’s hard to imagine he had much of a hands-on role in that hiring.
Ryan Poles, the intriguing executive director of player personnel for Kansas City, has a similar eye for talent on the field but the same hole in his resume.
This is the first time since the Giants created their position of general manager in 1979 that they are interviewing no candidates who have ever held that job title somewhere else.
Because of that, the Giants might prefer a more well-rounded candidate, someone who has seen the inbox that can overwhelm whoever sits in the big chair and is aware of how the fields of business and football converge on that single desk.
There are two candidates who currently are assistant GMs and whose experience may push them toward the top of the Giants’ list.
Peters, with whom the Giants will meet on Monday, is the assistant GM to John Lynch of the 49ers. He has worked for three organizations — the 49ers, Broncos and Patriots — and in each of his last two stops, he played a large role in turning a sagging franchise into a title contender.
Then there is Joe Schoen, who was the first candidate to meet with the Giants last week. The assistant GM of the Bills has worked for the Dolphins and Panthers in a variety of roles and has been a high-ranking part of the front office that has flipped Buffalo from afterthought to AFC power.
Such titles and experiences might not be enough to sway the Giants. They certainly could have been impressed by the vision and character of a candidate who has less on his resume but more to his personality. It will be up to Giants ownership to determine this week what matters most to them in a new GM.
Peters and Schoen still have the dirt under their fingernails from complete franchise overhauls in the last few years, the kind that the Giants will be attempting for themselves. That may wind up being what brings them to New Jersey for the second round of interviews and, perhaps, for longer.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
