The New York Giants are embarking on a new phase in the nine-and-a-half decade history of the franchise with a new general manager (Joe Schoen), head coach (Brian Daboll) and and new offensive coordinator, Mike Kafka.
It’s a trio the team hopes will return them to to top of the NFL after a decade of losing and frustration.
Daboll comes to the Giants from the Buffalo Bills, where he was the offensive coordinator under head coach Sean McDermott, and where Schoen was the assistant general manager. Kafka, after a six-year NFL career as a backup quarterback that saw him wear the uniforms of seven NFL teams, went into coaching and found his niche as Andy Reid’s passing game coordinator in Kansas City and quarterbacks coach to Patrick Mahomes, winning a Super Bowl two years ago.
Still only 34, Kafka has a load of experience already and hopes to combine with Daboll to turn the Giants’ 31st-ranked offense into a force again.
“Me and Dabes go back a ways,” Kafka told Giants.com’s Bob Papa in a recent interview.
Kafka and Daboll crossed paths in New England in 2013 when Kafka was backup quarterback and Daboll the tight ends coach. They have a similar vision for the Giants’ offense but a lot will depend on the roster that Schoen can forger for them.
Kafka would like to pick up where he left off in Kansas City where he and Mahomes lit up the scoreboard. He would like his Giants’ offense to be one dedicated to “generating explosive plays” but also is wary that may not be an option right away as he has to “make sure it fits our personnel, our quarterback, our offensive line.”
That is where Schoen comes in. The Giants won’t be able to do a whole lot with the offensive line they currently have. Kafka is excited to get to work with fourth-year quarterback Daniel Jones, however, a player who has teased Giant fane with big plays in the past.
Kafka sees Jones as “athletic and can make every throw” but admits that “it’s got to be an 11-man operation,” meaning the Giants are going have fortify the team around him if they expect Jones to succeed.
There is still a lot of changes coming in East Rutherford. Schoen is getting to work to with the rebuild of the new roster, and Daboll and Kafka and the rest of the staff still have no idea who other than Jones will be under their charge this spring.
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