No one said it was going to be easy.
John Harbaugh’s purge of the Giants began immediately on Tuesday and Wednesday with some big changes to big names on the franchise’s masthead.
Ronnie Barnes, the team’s long-tenured senior vice president of medical services and head athletic trainer, is being reassigned.
Harbaugh will be hiring a new head athletic trainer. Barnes will retain a title overseeing the Giants’ medical services but will no longer have the sweeping say and authority he has exerted across various coaching staffs.
And Kevin Abrams, a front office mainstay and recent senior vice president of football operations who helped manage the salary cap, is no longer working for the team.
Both Barnes and Abrams previously were untouchable due to strong connections with ownership.
Previous staffs had tried to gut the training room from the top down — due to its underperformance with player injuries and its outsized influence on the organization and media — and had been told no.
But Harbaugh is wielding a new kind of power.
The Giants hired him because he is a leader of men who intends to pull this entire building in one direction together. And he is now making the necessary changes to ensure that’s feasible.
Reassigning Barnes is touching the third rail of the Giants’ organization. It’s such a sensitive topic that the team released a statement clarifying that “Barnes’ role is not changing.”
But again, that is not true. This is a new day.
GM Joe Schoen for now is not being fired, the Daily News is told, after having his power stripped away in Harbaugh’s contract.
Schoen is not expected to last long in New York with Harbaugh at the helm, but nothing is happening to him imminently.
Reassigning Barnes and not retiring him — and retaining Schoen in the short term — are risky half-measures by Harbaugh. It would be more efficient to start fresh.
But he is obviously navigating the politics of what departments he can touch and how significantly he can change them delicately.
The coaching staff is receiving a nearly complete overhaul.
Defensive line coach Andre Patterson, a horrendous influence on the defense, the run defense and the players’ attitudes, leads a host of Giants coaches who have been fired.
Harbaugh is going to bring plenty of people from Baltimore to New York.
Don’t be surprised if Nick Matteo, the Ravens’ current VP of football administration, fills the Giants vacancy left by Abrams’ departure.
Matteo is a rising star from Ramsey, N.J., who went to Bergen Catholic, interned for the Giants, worked a decade for the league and seven years in Baltimore.
Todd Monken, the Ravens’ former offensive coordinator, is expected to be the Giants’ offensive coordinator.
The Dolphins’ Anthony Weaver and the Titans’ Dennard Wilson are the two names to watch at defensive coordinator. Both worked for Harbaugh with the Ravens, and the Giants already tried to hire Wilson once in 2024.
The Ravens blocked the Giants from interviewing Baltimore special teams coordinator Chris Horton. If Baltimore hires a new coach who lets Horton walk, he could still be Harbaugh’s guy. Or he could tab his second in command, Randy Brown.
Baltimore defensive coordinator Zach Orr, The News is told, could join Harbaugh as New York’s linebackers coach.
Dennis Johnson is expected to follow Harbaugh to coach the defensive line, and other position coaches to watch include Chuck Pagano (secondary), Matt Robinson (outside linebackers), Tee Martin (quarterbacks) and Willie Taggert (running back).
Also watch for changes in the video department, training room, strength room and public relations.
It’s a new day in New York. And it was never going to be easy.
