Tag: mike kafka

After a coaching cycle that saw him draw interest from multiple teams for the second consecutive season, Mike Kafka is expected to return to the New York Giants in 2024 and reassume his role as the offensive coordinator.

The final domino fell on Wednesday when the Seattle Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald as their next head coach.

The plan is for Mike Kafka to return as #Giants offensive coordinator next season, per sources. Kafka was a finalist for Seahawks head coaching job.

Giants now return one coordinator after firing Thomas McGaughey (special teams) and parting ways with Wink Martindale (defense). pic.twitter.com/iu5kxmV2xY

— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) February 1, 2024

There have been multiple reports this offseason suggesting that Kafka is unhappy in East Rutherford due, in part, to a deteriorating relationship with head coach Brian Daboll.

At several points throughout the season, Daboll allegedly took play-calling duties away from Kafka only to give them back later. In addition to Daboll, quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney also reportedly handled play-calling duties at times.

In addition to those reports, it was also reported that Kafka might seek a lateral move if the Giants were to permit him to interview for other offensive coordinator jobs. However, their plan was always to retain Kafka.

Although Kafka is expected back as the OC, it’s unclear if he will continue calling plays or if Daboll will completely take over.

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The New York Giants’ coaching staff is still in flux. Their coordinator positions are in three different phases.

This week, they hired former Jets assistant Michael Ghobrial as their new special teams coordinator to replace the recently dismissed Thomas McGaughey.

They are still seeking a replacement for defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who left amid philosophical differences with head coach Brian Daboll.

That could also happen with offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who is being considered for the head coaching gig in Seattle. Currently, Kafka’s star is rising. He is scheduled to coach the West squad in the upcoming East-West Shrine Bowl.

In a recent article, long-time New York Post Giants columnist Paul Schwartz points out that keeping Kafka would go a long way to helping Daboll from avoiding complete coordinator ‘chaos’.

They are the endangered species known as NFL offensive coordinators. The Giants still have theirs and, at the moment, Mike Kafka appears set to return for a third year on Brian Daboll’s staff. If that actually happens, it will represent stability in the most unstable of environs.

Pairing “stability’” and most anything that went down with the Giants’ offense in 2023 is risky business, but this is where we are.

Kafka is a low-key guy and has repeatedly deferred to Daboll’s leadership, especially when it comes to the playcalling. At 36, he is right in the wheelhouse of where NFL owners want their new head coaching hires to be.

More from Schwartz:

Behind closed doors, he works well with players, is smart and prepared and at a young age is already well-versed in walking into rooms for head coach interviews, having met with four different teams last year and being requested this cycle by the Titans and Seahawks.

Should the Giants lose Kafka to another team — whether the move be promotional or lateral — it would be a severe blow to Daboll given all that’s been reported about his volatile management style.

We saw this year how losing both coordinators can affect a team. The Philadelphia Eagles may have seemed functional without Jonathan Gannon and Shane Steichen coming off a Super Bowl appearance — opening the season 11-1 — but then could not sustain the success. They crumbled down the stretch and head coach Nick Sirianni is now on notice.

The Giants are coming off a 6-11 season and new coordinator leadership could very well put them back on a losing treadmill, something Giant fans will have little tolerance for.

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The big offseason headline plaguing the New York Giants has been the volatility of head coach Brian Daboll.

Reports surfaced in October that the hot-headed Daboll was at odds with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and that things were beginning to boil over.

There was a belief that Martindale could be shown the door in-season but that ultimately culminated in early January when the two sides “parted ways.” Of course, that came after a major blow-up between Daboll and Martindale, which led to the latter storming out of the building.

Since then, additional reports have surfaced that Daboll’s work environment is “toxic” and his outbursts have become “personal.” Some staffers have even anonymously warned potential assistants to stay away.

There have been rumors that Daboll’s relationship with Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott also reached a breaking point before he was hired as Giants head coach in 2022. And apparently, it goes back even further than that.

During a Friday appearance on WFAN, Connor Hughes of SNY reported that Daboll was passed over for several coaching jobs in recent years because of his volatility and his inability to justify his hot-headed nature.

“I talked to people that knew there were issues in Cleveland, when he was an offensive coordinator there. The same volatility and heatedness in Cleveland,” Hughes said. “Remember, Daboll went through several coaching cycles before he got his job. There were some of those issues that were turned up in those coaching cycles and coaching interviews, and they wanted him to address those. And he didn’t address them overly well in some of those interviews, which is why those teams passed on him despite his success in Buffalo.”

Hughes went on to note that this is something that could continue to “deteriorate” and it may result in offensive coordinator Mike Kafka attempting to leave for a lateral move (if he’s not hired as a head coach).

“There’s not a zero percent chance that he takes a lateral move. That’s not completely incomprehensible — that’s still a situation that could be out there,” Hughes said. “When you have a coach that loses all three coordinators and maybe two of which because they don’t want to work with him anymore, that’s a red flag.”

Like many others, Hughes believes Daboll is a good coach and capable of course-correcting in the same way Tom Coughlin did. And the Giants fully intend to give him that opportunity.

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