00:00Think of it. At this time last year, the Giants came to the NFL scouting combine here in Indianapolis with
00:06tons of questions, mostly about who the heck was going to play quarterback for them in 2025.
00:12Remember, it was only one year ago. We were talking about Matt Stafford, who was thinking about leaving the Rams.
00:18The Giants were all in on him, were willing to pay him $50 million a year.
00:23At this time last year, we were hearing the first buzz about Aaron Rodgers reaching out to the Giants about
00:29possibly being their quarterback.
00:31So they were in real quarterback purgatory, the Giants, last year at this time.
00:36We did not know who the quarterback was going to be.
00:39Fast forward one year later, and Joe Shane met with the media here in Indianapolis, and he said it is
00:45incredibly nice that you know that you have a quarterback in Jackson Dart.
00:50You know that you have the player that you're going to build around, and now he can go into this
00:55combine and look into this draft, searching for other positions to augment and build around Jackson Dart.
01:01It's amazing how much things change in one year.
01:05Joe Shane, quite frankly, seemed very relieved that he doesn't have to deal with quarterbacks this year.
01:11He's got his guys in place, Jackson Dart and Jameis Winston as the backup.
01:16Joe Shane admitted that the past six weeks, it's been a real learning process with his new head coach, Jim
01:22Harbaugh.
01:23They're learning how to work together.
01:25By all accounts, they're working very well.
01:27They put together a very strong coaching staff together.
01:31Both those guys were involved in all the interviews.
01:33And, you know, Joe Shane said it's as simple as learning how to work with a guy.
01:38Do I go down into his office when I need something from him?
01:41Does he come down to my office?
01:43If I text him, does he call me back?
01:46Does he text me back?
01:47Is that the way he likes to communicate?
01:50So it's all a learning process.
01:52But John Harbaugh says things are going very well with Joe Shane, and there's no reason to believe they're not.
01:57Joe Shane kind of refuted any reports that he is less of a general manager than he was before John
02:05Harbaugh got here.
02:06He said, I am still the general manager, and indeed he's doing all the functions and carrying out all the
02:12responsibilities that he was doing last year at this time.
02:15They did hire a new salary cap manager and contract negotiator in Dawn Aponte, very highly regarded, worked for the
02:23league, has worked for three other NFL teams.
02:26As a matter of fact, worked for the Miami Dolphins when Joe Shane was in personnel for Miami.
02:31So Dawn Aponte and Joe Shane have worked together in the past.
02:34But she is replacing Kevin Abrams, who was with the Giants for 26 years, in that role.
02:40So it is true that Dawn Aponte reports directly to John Harbaugh.
02:45That is a difference in the way the Giants have done things in the past.
02:49But that doesn't mean Joe Shane is still not the general manager.
02:52And John Harbaugh said it is just the three of them now.
02:56Joe Shane, John Harbaugh, and Dawn Aponte will be spearheading pretty much everything with the Giants.
03:02But it is Harbaugh and Shane that do the bulk of really all of the personnel football roster building.
03:09Other than that, Joe Shane said he'd like to re-sign Gwanda Robinson, Jermaine Illuminor, and Cordell Flott.
03:16John Harbaugh said he wants to re-sign all three of those guys.
03:19They'll see if it's feasible financially to do so.
03:23John Harbaugh said a lot of very interesting things here as well.
03:26He's learning the ropes.
03:27He's learning to be the head coach of the Giants after 18 years coming to the Combine as the head
03:35coach of the Ravens.
03:36Harbaugh said things are going very well with Joe Shane, and there's no reason to believe they're not.
03:42And he said he likes to spend his time here in Indianapolis, not so much watching the workouts, because those
03:49are televised.
03:50He can watch them wherever he wants as far as workouts of the players who are draft eligible.
03:55He likes to sit in his office.
03:57He makes a hotel room into an office, and he studies these players because he's behind in his studying with
04:04these guys.
04:05After a season, after getting fired by the Ravens, after building a staff with the Giants, he now has to
04:11get up to speed with all these players.
04:14Sounds like he's doing that very well.
04:16So, so far, so good for the Giants here at the Scouting Combine.
04:19We'll see you next time.
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