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This time last year, NFL Films and HBO’s “Hard Knocks” were embarking on a new venture to take fans behind the scenes of a team preparing for the offseason.
The subject team was, of course, the New York Giants and the revolutionary idea worked well. It was revealing (perhaps too revealing), informative and fresh – and fans ate it up.
The concept may be dead on the vine, however, after the debut season. The Giants are still answering questions about their process a year later and no team has yet to volunteer for the second season.
“We hope it’s back. We’re talking to a bunch of teams about it. But we’ll see what happens. I mean, we need a willing participant on that one. We’re not going to force someone to do that show,” NFL Films VP Cossrow said last month.
No team has come forward because of the maelstrom it created for the Giants. It showed the inner workings of a decision that would eventually change the outcome of the 2025 NFL season and made the Giants look like fools in the process.
You know, the one where the Giants decided to let Saquon Barkley walk in free agency.
On Tuesday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, the first question hurled at Giants general manager Joe Schoen was about his fateful decision to allow Barkley to defect to Philadelphia and lead them to the Super Bowl. While he’s happy for Barkley, the decision didn’t work out for New York.
Schoen was also asked if any team has called him for advice about doing the show and though no one has, he knows what he would tell them if they sought his opinion.
Joe Schoen has not been asked by other NFL teams about his thoughts on Offseason Hard Knocks
If he was asked? “I think I know what I would tell them” pic.twitter.com/FYwBJaIgb8
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) February 25, 2025
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The reality is, had the Giants kept Barkley, he wouldn’t have tilted the scales much for them. They won three games last year. With Barkley, they might have won a few more at best. With the Eagles, he became the final piece of a championship puzzle.
The Giants need to have a solid offseason that yields results and produces wins to finally escape this shroud of ineptitude that has been hanging over them since they appeared on “Hard Knocks”.