Giants’ Front Office Shake-Up Reaches New Level, Impacting Mara Family

The New York Giants are in a full rebuild. With head coach Brian Daboll and his staff prepared to round the roster into shape at training camp later this summer, general manager Joe Schoen is now making moves to shake up the front office.

A massive move was noticed this week, as Chris Mara, the brother of team President/CEO/co-owner John Mara, has been moved to a new role. Chris Mara previously served as the team’s Senior Vice President of Player Personnel, but now he is listed on the Giants’ official website as a Senior Personnel Consultant (outside of the Player Personnel department).

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The move was first noticed by a Twitter user with the handle @clt_ny, but it was quickly picked up by Giants beat reporters, including Dan Duggan of The Athletic.

“Heard Chris Mara had become less hands-on in recent years,” Duggan wrote on Twitter. “Honestly surprised that his actual title changed. This offseason has definitely been the Giants’ biggest shakeup in a long time.”

This is a pretty stunning move, but it doesn’t remove the Mara family entirely from the Player Personnel department. Tim McDonnell, John Mara’s nephew, now leads the department as the  Giants’ Director of Player Personnel.

This move proves that there will be no half-measures under this new regime. Schoen is serious about reshaping the entire organization from top to bottom, and ownership has given him the green light to do exactly that.

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John Mara Defended His Family Back in January

Days after the 2022 NFL season came to an end for the Giants, John Mara held a virtual news conference where he swatted away accusations of nepotism. He started by defending his brother, Chris.

“That perception has been created by you [the media] and others and the reality is that in terms of my brother, my brother spends most of his time doing evaluation of college players,” Mara said, per Ed Valentine of Big Blue View. “His grades go into our system and he participates in the draft. All personnel decisions in this building, and this has always been the case, have been made by the general manager and the head coach. Chris is a very skilled evaluator, but he does not have any authority here other than the fact that I will go to him on occasion and ask him about players.”

Mara then backed up his nephew, Tim McDonnell.

“Tim is probably the most respected guy we have in this building,” Mara said (h/t Big Blue View). “Coaches, front office staff, the general manager go to him and ask his advice on players because he is a good evaluator. He’s worked his way up from the bottom and he’s earned his stripes. He does not have any authority here.”

Chris Mara has worked for the Giants since 1979, while McDonnell joined the organization as a scout back in 2013.

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So, Who Has the Final Say on Personnel Decisions?

Ultimately, as long as John Mara is CEO, he’ll always have the definitive final word in all personnel decisions. That said, Mara claims he will almost always sign off on what the GM and head coach want.

“The personnel decisions have always been made and will always be made by the general manager and the head coach,” Mara said back in January, per Big Blue View. “If they agree on a draft pick, on a UFA, then I’m gonna OK it 99.9 percent of the time. The only time I will raise an issue about it is if there is a conduct issue.”

For Schoen and Daboll, that’s the kind of freedom they need to turn the franchise around.

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