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New York Giants assistant coach and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is currently in the process of being interviewed by both the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears for a potential head coaching position in 2025. The Big Blue OC has experienced somewhat of an odyssey during his campaign under head coach Brian Daboll’s staff. Here we’ll look at how the polarizing playcaller succeeded, failed, and where others may have failed him if this is indeed the end of his time in East Rutherford.
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An Explosive Arrival
As 21st century Giants fans, we have a special way of reminiscing fondly on any season where we’ve scratched and clawed our way to a playoff berth; and that’s not just limited to Super Bowl winning campaigns. We’re talking about years like 2008, 2016, and of course our most recent trip to the postseason in 2022. In a miraculous turn of events, Daboll, in his first year at head coach, was able to transform a dreadful 4-13 squad in 2021 into a band of gritty, upstart competitors just a year later to finish the 2022 season 9-7-1.
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If you want to find a prime example as to where the right changes were made, look no further than Mike Kafka. Kafka was brought in under this new regime to help aid Daboll in salvaging the failing career of quarterback Daniel Jones. Jones had been coasting off of his high draft selection since 2020 after a promising rookie season, but since then had fared poorly in the following two years which were riddled with injuries and inconsistent play. With Kafka’s passing scheme which featured frequent bootleg passing as well as an enhanced running role for Jones, the young QB was able to post the highest passer rating of his career to date at 92.5 as well as 15 touchdowns and a career low 5 interceptions. His contributions on the ground couldn’t be ignored either; adding 708 yards with his feet and seven touchdowns to boot. Kafka’s playcalling also led Jones into one of the greatest playoff performances in franchise history against the Minnesota Vikings on wildcard weekend, with the young signal caller putting up a statline of 24/35, 2 touchdowns, no interceptions, and 78 yards rushing in a 31-24 victory on the road.
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Joy is Fleeting
After an overachieving 2022, New York fell flat on their face right out of the gate in 2023, falling to the Dallas Cowboys 40-0 on Sunday Night Football in week 1 on a night they have yet to truly recover from. Teams suddenly seemed to have the answer for Kafka’s schemes, as the Giants failed to score more than 30 points all season. Outside of a heroic comeback performance against the Arizona Cardinals in week 2, Daniel Jones failed to throw a passing touchdown on the year before tearing his ACL against the Oakland Raiders the same day he returned from a 3-game absence after sustaining a neck injury a month earlier against the Miami Dolphins.
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While Kafka did excellent work with the unexpected rise of backup QB Tommy DeVito, leading him to an 8 touchdown, 3 interception season and a three game winning streak, as well as dependable play from fellow quarterback Tyrod Taylor when DeVito began to falter, it wasn’t enough to save the Giants from a 6-11 record as the offense finished 31st in passing yards per game.
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A New Role
In 2024, Kafka was promoted to assistant head coach along with his OC duties. However, Brian Daboll would take over the play calling for the g-men. The results were atrocious. With inconsistent QB play (from a staggering 4 QB’s) as well as a gaping hole in the run game left by the departing Saquon Barkley, the Giants had one of their worst seasons in the 100 year history of their franchise, finishing the year 3-14 while Daboll made countless bone-headed play calls throughout the season to earn himself termination papers which never came, especially against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football in one of the worst two-point conversions ever attempted.
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The General Consensus
It would’ve been interesting to have seen how Kafka would’ve utilized rookie standouts Malik Nabers, Tyrone Tracy Jr., and Theo Johnson, but unfortunately we most likely will never know. Kafka has garnered attention from multiple teams in each of the last two seasons, and it’s becoming more likely by the day that he’ll find a new home in 2025. Kafka won’t be remembered as a game-changing coordinator for New York, but it also couldn’t be helped that he only had one full season’s worth of proper player talent to work with. If this is the end of his tenure, then we truly wish Coach Mike the best wherever he ends up.
-Jack Barber 11:31 p.m. 1/9/2025
Works Cited
https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyg/new-york-giants
https://www.nfl.com/games/giants-at-cardinals-2023-reg-2?active-tab=watch https://www.foxsports.com/articles/nfl/2023-nfl-offense-rankings-team-pass-and-rush-stats
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