The first domino appears to have fallen in the 2022 hiring cycle.
And this one’s for you, New York:
Welcome to Big Blue, Joe. We have hired Joe Schoen as our new GM
Details: https://t.co/ZzVE82QHNj pic.twitter.com/aKFgDCq4RS
— New York Giants (@Giants) January 21, 2022
The Giants have closed in on hiring Bills Assistant General Manager Joe Schoen to be their general manager. Before the Giants made it officially official, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the team has let Ryan Poles (a possible Bears candidate) and Adam Peters that it has gone in a different direction. And thus, the Schoen era was cleared for take off in New York. And now, it leaves the Bears, Vikings, and Raiders as the only teams looking for a general manager *AND* head coach.
If you’ll recall, Schoen was interviewing with the Bears as recently as Sunday. And for what it’s worth, the résumé is certainly interesting. Before landing the Assistant GM gig that he has been in since 2017, Schoen piled up experience in a variety of roles with the Dolphins (National Scout, Assistant Director of College Scouting, Director of Player Personnel, and Director of Personnel) and Panthers (Scouting Assistant, Area Scout). The ability to draw upon a variety of experiences from different stops and organizations is what I found most intriguing about Schoen’s profile. I’d bet the Giants liked that and a little bit more. Hence, the push to make Schoen the first GM hire of this cycle.
Part of me wishes the Bears would’ve been able to hire a GM with the kind of swiftness the Giants did. But I’m far more concerned with the team making the right hire than the first one. Not to say that the quick hire is bad or good. But the last time the Bears made the first hire of a cycle was when it plucked Matt Nagy from the Chiefs. Considering how that turned out, maybe we should pump brakes just because something makes us feel some type of way.