Amid Team Ownership in Flux, Harbaugh Aims for Normalcy

PHOENIX — Despite a team ownership firmly in transition and an industry-pacing contract, John Harbaugh is attempting to keep things as normal as possible in his new role as Giants head coach. 

New York hired Harbaugh in January, signing him to an estimated $100 million pact over five years, matching the Chiefs’ Andy Reid as the league’s highest-paid head coach. As 10 NFL teams switched head coaches in a particularly active offseason cycle, Harbaugh was by far the most tenured and successful figure on the open market. Harbaugh previously spent 18 years with the Ravens, winning one Super Bowl and reaching the playoffs 12 times. 

Giants ownership, meanwhile, is also changing, as chairman Steve Tisch is in the midst of passing his team equity to his children after disclosures of his close ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. John Mara, Giants co-owner, is in Arizona for the league’s annual meeting this week, but he continues to fight cancer. 

“It’s just been about football, really,” Harbaugh said in response to a Front Office Sports question at the NFL’s annual meeting. “The ongoing dialogue has been about the things that we’re doing, the moves that we’re making. John [Mara] has been very involved in everything that we do. [Senior player personnel executive] Chris [Mara] has been very involved in everything that we do. We have a really good line of communication, and the way that we’re operating is really natural and normal. It’s exactly what we talked about, from the beginning [of contract negotiations]. So I feel great about it.”

Harbaugh, however, demurred on the impact that his contract could have on potentially pushing coaching salaries upward across the league.

“I have no idea. It’s a great question,” Harbaugh said in response to FOS about the wider effect of his contract. “I haven’t really thought about that at all.”

On-Field Hope

The Giants, meanwhile, are attempting to return to the postseason for the first time since 2022. New York in particular has a promising young quarterback in Jaxson Dart, who Harbaugh sees as a franchise cornerstone.

“He does so many things so well. He can live in a lot of different worlds,” Harbaugh said. “Whether it’s power run, drop-back pass, quarterback-driven stuff, quick-ball-out situations. He can throw the ball downfield. He can throw off of play action. I’m not really sure what he can’t do.”

Harbaugh also cited the Bears as a team that modeled the type of turnaround he sees as possible in New York in 2026. Chicago went to the divisional round of the playoffs this past season in a breakthrough campaign after four years out of the postseason.

“The league is a lot tighter than you might think. It’s a tight-margin proposition,” Harbaugh said. “There aren’t too many games that aren’t really close and aren’t decided right at the end, one way or the other. … Look at the Bears. How many late-game miracles did they pull off? So we want to win all of those tight margins.”