Giants Hire Dawn Aponte As Senior VP

Dawn Aponte is leaving the league office for an executive position with the Giants, according to Jordan Raanan and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. Aponte will serve as the Giants’ senior vice president in football operations.

This ends a nine-year run with the league for Aponte, a Staten Island native who had been the NFL’s chief administrator of football operations since 2017. Working with a team isn’t anything new for Aponte, however. Since beginning as an accountant in 1994, Aponte has garnered significant experience with the Jets, Browns and Dolphins.

In her seven years before joining the league office, Aponte held three different titles in Miami, including executive VP of football administration for five seasons. Joe Schoen, now the Giants’ general manager, was a Dolphins employee during Aponte’s entire tenure with the organization.

In 2024, eight years after leaving the Dolphins, Aponte interviewed for the Chargers’ GM job. Then seeking a replacement for the fired Tom Telesco, the Chargers went on to hire Joe Hortiz. The Jets also interviewed Aponte for their GM opening before hiring Darren Mougey last year, Paul Schwartz of the New York Post reports.

Aponte will now take on an important role in New York in replacing Kevin Abrams, whom the Giants let go last month after almost three decades with the franchise. Abrams’ ouster came shortly after the Giants hired head coach John Harbaugh, who has worked to reshape the organization early in his tenure.

Like Abrams, Aponte is known as a skilled contract negotiator. Aponte, who has a degree from New York Law School, will deal with matters related to contracts and the salary cap as a member of the Giants’ front office.