John Harbaugh says Giants' power structure being 'overblown' - ESPN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants introduced John Harbaugh on Tuesday as the 21st head coach in the team's storied history. But with 12 playoff appearances and a Super Bowl win on his résumé, he comes with a stronger pedigree and more power than most, if not all, of his predecessors.

Harbaugh, who spent 18 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, signed a five-year deal with the Giants that multiple league sources told ESPN is in the vicinity of $100 million. With that hefty salary comes extra responsibility and say on personnel issues.

He will report directly to ownership rather than general manager Joe Schoen. The Giants have traditionally had their coach report to the general manager, who would then report to ownership.

Not this time around.

Harbaugh and Schoen will work collaboratively and cooperatively, but it's Harbaugh who is expected to have the stronger voice given his track record of success.

«To me it's really not that important in the big picture, in the big scheme of things. I think it's kind of overblown in terms of how it works,» Harbaugh said. «But the main thing is that it works and we work together. That's kind of what I was used to and it felt like a good way to start off. I think we're all going to work together.

»I promise you, we all report to the boss. And the boss is ownership."

The Mara and Tisch families are the primary owners of the Giants. With John Mara being diagnosed with cancer, his brother, Chris, took a more proactive role in the hiring of Harbaugh.

Chris Mara visited Harbaugh on multiple occasions, including a lunch — set up by former Giants coach Tom Coughlin — at the start of the recruitment process several weeks back. It was a premeditated approach «to act and not react.»

When