Ian O’Connor has written New York Times bestselling biographies about Bill Belichick, Aaron Rodgers, Derek Jeter, and Mike Krzyzewski. His next book will focus on the five-year stretch when the Giants beat Belichick twice in the Super Bowl.

“Thrilled my next HarperCollins book is official,” O’Connor posted on X on Friday. “The 2007-2011 Giants, the franchise’s most fascinating 5-year period, how history was made vs the Super Bowl odds by twice beating the QB/coach GOATs, Brady & Belichick. Likely title: ‘When We Were Giants.’”

Thrilled my next @HarperCollins book is official-the 2007-2011 Giants, the franchise’s most fascinating 5-year period, how history was made vs the Super Bowl odds by twice beating the QB/coach GOATs, Brady & Belichick. Likely title: “When We Were Giants” More soon. Can’t wait. pic.twitter.com/y2gpFdNZDb

— Ian O’Connor (@Ian_OConnor) February 6, 2026

O’Connor’s book will cover the most successful stretch in Giants franchise history, a period that produced two Super Bowl championships and came within a Plaxico Burress nightclub incident of possibly winning three. The Giants went 18-1 against New England in Super Bowl XLII to end the Patriots’ perfect season. Four years later, they beat them again in Super Bowl XLVI. Between those victories, they went 12-4 in 2008 before Burress shot himself in the leg at a Manhattan nightclub in late November, derailing what Tom Coughlin believed was the team’s best roster of that era.

The announcement comes as O’Connor joins The Athletic as a columnist after spending two years focusing exclusively on book projects. He joined the New York Times-owned outlet in July 2025, citing the need to return to daily journalism after working in isolation as an author. Before that, O’Connor was a senior writer at ESPN.com and spent years as a columnist at the New York Post, New York Daily News, and USA Today.

O’Connor has built a reputation for unauthorized biographies that reveal uncomfortable truths about their subjects. His 2018 book on Belichick became a bestseller despite the Patriots coach refusing to cooperate. The book detailed Belichick’s difficult relationships with players and coaches throughout his career, including friction with Tom Brady that would eventually lead to the quarterback leaving New England. O’Connor interviewed more than 200 people for that project without ever speaking to Belichick himself.

He took the same approach with his 2024 Aaron Rodgers biography, “Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers.” O’Connor conducted more than 250 interviews before Rodgers finally agreed to sit down with him at his home in Malibu. The book revealed details about Rodgers’ estrangement from his family, his relationship with Olivia Munn, and his regrets about the “immunized” comment during the COVID pandemic. Rodgers later appeared on WFAN and suggested some stories in the book were “not based on a lot of fact,” though he acknowledged learning new information about his grandfather from O’Connor’s research.

HarperCollins published O’Connor’s previous books, including his 2011 book “The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter” and his 2017 Belichick biography. The publisher has committed to the Giants project with a likely title of “When We Were Giants,” though O’Connor noted that could change before publication.

O’Connor’s other books include “Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski,” which became a New York Times bestseller in 2018, and “Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf’s Greatest Rivalry.” His most recent collaborative project was “Never Stop: Life, Leadership, and What It Takes to Be Great” with UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley, published in September 2025.

The Giants project has been in development for weeks. O’Connor mentioned it in a January interview on Baltimore Positive’s radio show while discussing John Harbaugh’s move to New York.

“I’m about to start a book, I believe, on the five-year period of the New York Giants, 2007 to 11, when they have the two Super Bowl victories over Belichick and Brady,” O’Connor said. “Their best team in 2008 would have, Coughlin believes would have won it. Plaxico Burress shot himself at a nightclub by accident, and that blew up the season. So I may do a book on those five years, probably the best five years in Giants history.”

No publication date has been announced.