PHOENIX — Maybe the Giants the next few days will lay the groundwork for a Let’s Make A Deal scenario.
Starting Sunday and continuing through Tuesday at the Annual League Meeting — more commonly known as the NFL Owners’ Meeting — team officials from all 32 teams gather at the stately Arizona Biltmore. With so many power brokers assembled in one spot, and the NFL draft arriving April 23, there is sure to be conversations that could lead to upcoming wheeling and dealing.
It is noteworthy that Giants co-owner John Mara is on the scene at this meeting even as he continues with his cancer treatments. Mara was not strong enough to attend road games during the 2025 season.
Mara was seen Sunday walking through a corridor at the Biltmore alongside Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, the two chatting as they headed toward a meeting.
That Mara, 71, made it here should not be taken for granted, considering his health concerns. For decades he has been a noticeable presence at these league get-togethers, not only as the voice of his franchise but also as an influential member of the prestigious Competition Committee, which studies all aspects of the game and implements rules changes.
Who can forget Mara two years ago, standing in the Biltmore lobby, lambasting the idea put forth by several other owners to allow regular-season games to be moved from Sunday to Thursday night.
“Flexible scheduling as it is, is really inconsiderate to our season-ticket holders who fill our stadiums every week,’’ Mara said, calling it “abusive’’ to move a game to a Thursday night.
Chris Mara, the team’s senior player personnel executive and a board director, is also representing Giants ownership at this meeting. Chris Mara, with older brother John also involved, assumed a more prominent and key role in the aggressive push to hire John Harbaugh.
The Giants’ other co-owner, Steve Tisch, was also a regular at these meetings but he will not be in attendance. He and his siblings are transferring an equity stake in the team to their children, a process that must be approved by the other NFL owners.
Tisch’s name appeared more than 400 times in the notorious Epstein files released by the U.S. Justice Department. Tisch on Jan. 30 issued a statement saying he and Epstein “had a brief association where we exchanged emails about adult women, and in addition, we discussed movies, philanthropy and investments,’’ and added “I did not take him up on any of his invitations and never went to his island. As we all know now, he was a terrible person and someone I deeply regret associating with.”
The first major collaborations from Harbaugh and general manager Joe Schoen centered on assembling Harbaugh’s coaching staff, hiring Dawn Aponte as the senior vice president of football operations and strategy and bringing in a new head trainer. The Harbaugh-Schoen partnership then moved on to roster construction with a series of laser-focused NFL free agency signings.
New targets for Jaxson Dart were imported — tight end Isaiah Likely and wide receivers Darnell Mooney and Calvin Austin III — protection for Dart was ensured with the re-signing of right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and the middle of the defense was upgraded with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Harbaugh, given his background, made sure to scratch his special teams itch with the addition Jordan Stout, who punted for Harbaugh the past four years with the Ravens.
Harbaugh’s first offseason voluntary workout program with the Giants opens up April 7.
This next phase will be critical to the Harbaugh-Schoen dynamic. The draft is a general manager’s Super Bowl and this will be the first time Schoen selects players for a different head coach after overseeing the previous four drafts with Brian Daboll, who was fired 10 games into the 2025 season.
With all the general managers and head coaches under one roof for a few days, this gathering turns into a pre-draft convention of sorts, with plenty of trade scenarios bandied about in private meeting rooms and hallways.
The Giants have seven picks but none in the third round — that pick was sent to the Texans in the trade-up last year to get Dart — and that is not ideal. At present, they own the No. 5 overall pick, No. 37 early in the second round and then nothing until pick No. 105 in the fourth round. Harbaugh is not thrilled with that and a trade down to acquire an extra pick should not be discounted.
“Yeah, we’re going to look at all options,’’ Schoen said last month at the NFL scouting combine. “We’re open to moving back if an opportunity is there. We’re also fine staying and taking a pick, a player there. If you can’t get out of five, there is always a chance in the second round if you want to move back. Or if there is a good player, you can sit and take them, move back into the first round. We are going to keep all of our options open.’’
Some of those options could be enhanced by what transpires over the next few days.
