Joe Schoen's Giants Returning to 'Hard Knocks'

The New York Giants were the first team to be featured on the offseason edition of “Hard Knocks.” They may very well be the last. It was an abject disaster, most notably due to the discussions between general manager Joe Schoen and running back Saquon Barkley.

The football world saw Barkley trek from the Giants to the Philadelphia Eagles in the opening days of free agency. But watching Schoen justify not paying him, along with owner John Mara suggesting that he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night without his franchise player in blue and white.

The show added insult to injury … and then Barkley ran for 2,000 yards on the way to a Super Bowl.

Schoen, the man most scorned by HBO’s football docuseries, might have to be more reserved in 2025. Reported by Art Stapleton (and later announced by the league), the Giants will return to “Hard Knocks” for the 2025 season, joining their NFC East rivals for the in-season version of the show.

Fortunately for Schoen, this means New York won’t have to worry about free agency and the NFL Draft showing up on camera. It does open the door for early-season struggles to become a mainstay on the show, though. The Giants face a gauntlet of a 2025 schedule, opening with the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys before dates with the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers.

There’s a lot of room for things to go wrong, and with a first-round quarterback in Jaxson Dart potentially pushing for playing time, things could get chaotic.

At the very least, New York should only see a quarter of the show’s coverage. The Washington Commanders, for the first time with Jayden Daniels under center, are dealing with the burden of expectations. The Philadelphia Eagles are champions looking to repeat in a tough division, and the Dallas Cowboys are no strangers to the spotlight. Between owner Jerry Jones, a proclivity for pandemonium, and the scrutiny facing quarterback Dak Prescott, the Giants may be shielded by their more competitive peers.

Last year’s in-season edition debuted early in December, giving fans something to look forward to as the autumn games commence.