Giants Open Trade Calls Across NFL Power Structure

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh says the team will hear trade offers from owners, general managers and head coaches as it pursues the NFC East title. “We're open for any calls,” he said after the Giants returned from their bye week. The roster may belong to the team, but decisions about who moves and what the Giants surrender run through the league’s owners and executives.

Who Gets to Make the Calls

Harbaugh says he wants to be aggressive before the trade deadline, and he’s willing to talk beyond the usual executive channels. The previous week, he left a voicemail for Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk asking about defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. Simmons was traded to the Bears. Trade discussions usually happen between general managers, but Harbaugh dismissed the idea that conversation must stay inside that lane: “We're not part of any secret society oath that says you can only talk to somebody.”

“Anybody that wants to call us, call,” Harbaugh said. That invitation reaches any owner, general manager or head coach with a difference-making player to offer. The Giants’ pursuit is aimed at winning the NFC East for the first time since 2011, while the power to set a player’s destination remains concentrated among the people running the clubs.

Running back Jonathan Taylor was the biggest name linked to the Giants. After Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson suffered a season-ending injury, questions arose about whether running back Derrick Henry might become available. Two weeks earlier, before Cam Skattebo’s first 100-yard game led a balanced attack with four rushing touchdowns against the Texans, Harbaugh said he wanted an “Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley circumstance,” with an elite workhorse runner.

The Price of a Roster Upgrade

The Giants were also expected to consider defensive tackles, edge rushers and receivers. Harbaugh called adding significant players “always the goal,” but said a target must meet a team need, fit the financial profile and fit the price. The language is familiar: players are assessed as both talent and cost, while executives weigh what they’ll give up to acquire them.

The Giants held first-, second- and third-round picks and two sixth-round picks in the 2027 draft. They could receive a compensatory fourth-round pick, but that wouldn’t be determined until February and couldn’t be traded at the time. Harbaugh said he didn’t want to spend draft capital on a “one-and-done kind of thing.” He wants “a short-term and a long-term win.”

“We're not loaded with 12 or 13 draft picks where we've got draft capital to burn,” Harbaugh said. “So, we have to be smart shoppers that way.” Asked if using 2028 draft capital was possible, he joked, “Yeah, it's easier to put it on the credit card. It's always an easier spend.” Taylor and Henry are under contract beyond this season; Tennessee's Tony Pollard and Seattle's Zach Charbonnet are 2027 free agents.

Old Ties, New Deals

Harbaugh worked for 18 seasons alongside Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta in Baltimore before Harbaugh was fired. He called Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti “a great friend,” saying those connections could make a trade call easier: “it's an easy call to friends.” He said people at every level contact people they know across the league, and described the Giants’ approach as “turning over every stone” and making every call.

Harbaugh cautioned that his call about Simmons, who was traded for two first-round picks, shouldn’t be treated as evidence of what the Giants would pay for him or anyone else. He said inquiries also help assess a player’s character and protect the locker-room atmosphere. He noted that he knows more NFL owners than current general managers who were peers of Giants general manager Joe Schoen. The team, he said, would consider its “great camaraderie, a great brotherhood, synergy,” and “probably talk to some of your [leaders] before you did something like that.”

The calls are open; the decision still belongs to the people controlling the roster, the money and the draft picks. Harbaugh says the Giants won’t apologize for exploring their options. The players being discussed remain the assets around which those powerful people bargain.