The New York Giants are finalizing a deal to make John Harbaugh the team's next head coach, according to sources that spoke to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
At this time, negotiations are ongoing, with one source adding, "There still is a lot to work through." Regardless, Harbaugh is ready to sign a deal and become the Giants' head coach right away, barring any setbacks.
John Harbaugh famously spent the last 18 seasons as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, where he won a Super Bowl and took the team to the playoffs 12 times. During his tenure, he amassed a regular-season record of 180-113 with a .614 winning percentage.
A new hope for Big Blue
This is the best thing to happen to the New York Giants since the start of the decade. Yes, that includes the meaningless Wild Card round win against the Minnesota Vikings during the 2022-23 season that eventually led to Daniel Jones receiving a massive contract extension. That also includes hitting on the Jaxson Dart draft pick. With this single signing, the Giants have immediately changed the culture of their locker room and the perception of the team.
For several years, New York has been a desolate football wasteland. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, the Giants have the second-worst winning percentage in the NFL, ahead of only the Tennessee Titans. And not a lot has separated those two teams. The Titans are 12-39 over that stretch, while the Giants are 13-38. None of that matters now, though, because they just nailed their head coaching hire.
Think about it this way: over the last two seasons, the Giants have seven wins. In a down year, when Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson missed four games, John Harbaugh still managed to lead Baltimore to eight wins. Ask almost any Giants fan, and they would tell you that they would sign up for an 8-9 record in a heartbeat.
It isn't often that we see a home run head coaching hire that is nearly guaranteed to yield positive results. There was Mike McCarthy with the Cowboys in 2020, Sean Payton with the Broncos in 2023, Mike Vrabel with the Patriots and Ben Johnson with the Bears last season, and now John Harbaugh with the New York Giants.
Understandably, the expectations in New York will be sky-high. Thankfully, they have their quarterback position figured out, a Pro Bowl-level wide receiver in Malik Nabers, numerous talented defenders who can get after opposing QBs, and, now, a head coach to bring it all together. Harbaugh will almost certainly have the New York Giants competing for a Wild Card spot next season. At the very least, they will finish the regular season with six or more wins for the first time in three years.
Crosstown rivals now look foolish
As previously mentioned, this is a no-brainer, slam-dunk hire for the Giants. But this move doesn't just affect Big Blue. When finalized, this deal will send ripples across the NFL, and the only other team that will be more impacted by this move than the Giants is the New York Jets.
The Giants seemingly have solidified their foundation for years to come with a franchise quarterback, an elite head coach, and playmakers on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Meanwhile, the Jets continue to flounder and fail at every turn. They have no future at quarterback, barely any difference-makers on offense or defense, and arguably the worst head coach in the NFL.
Gang Green head coach Aaron Glenn was hired to immediately change the culture. In fact, some fans believed the Jets would make a playoff push before the 2025-26 season began. But those expectations changed drastically after they started the season with seven straight losses. When it became abundantly clear that the Jets were not going to be competitive this year, that's when they decided to be sellers at the trade deadline, moving on from two of their best players in Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. Now, the Jets are sticking with Aaron Glenn as head coach, which is the worst decision they can make.
Aaron Glenn is clearly a lame duck head coach. He was brought in to be a culture-changer, and the culture has never been worse for the Jets. Glenn will likely be fired at the end of next season, barring some type of miraculous turnaround, which makes the Harbaugh hire so tough to swallow. The Jets are purposefully preventing themselves from bringing in a proven head coach this off-season so that they can delay Glenn's firing.
Even if they did fire Aaron Glenn when the 2025-26 season ended, there's no guarantee that John Harbaugh would have taken the Jets’ job. But not even positioning yourself to make a play to hire Harbaugh is organizational malpractice and a perfect example as to why Woody Johnson is the worst owner in the NFL and maybe all of sports.
John Harbaugh going to the Giants while the Jets stubbornly stick with Aaron Glenn is the perfect encapsulation of how these two franchises operate. The Giants are well-run and taking steps to improve. Meanwhile, the Jets are the laughing stock of the NFL and appear no closer to fielding a competitive team or ending their 15-year playoff drought.
