Would Kafka look to move on after losing his role as offensive play-caller?
Relegated to a background role this season after calling the plays for his first two seasons, the future seems uncertain for New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.
If head coach Brian Daboll loses his job after Sunday’s season finale against the Philadelphia Eagles most if not all of Daboll’s coaching staff will be looking for new employers.
What will Kafka do, though, if Daboll is retained by the Giants? He deflected when asked about that on Thursday.
“I love being here. I love working for Dabs and everybody,” Kafka said. “My only focus, really, is just on Philadelphia, the coaches, the players, and getting ready to play a great game and build on what we did last week.”
Even though the Giants took play-calling away from Kafka this season, they did add ‘assistant head coach’ to his title.
Kafka did clarify that he is under contract to the Giants for next season.
Kafka, 37, has been a hot candidate on the head-coaching interview circuit the past two years.
Last offseason, he had two interviews with the Seattle Seahawks for their vacancy, and one with the Tennessee Titans. After the 2022 season, he interviewed for openings with the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals.
Does Kafka expect to receive head-coaching interviews during the upcoming hiring cycle?
“My focus hasn’t been on that,” he said. “My focus has been on Philly and just getting prepared for the game this weekend.”
The question of what Kafka’s responsibilites have been in his new role has been asked several times, with Kafka simply saying he has been a resource for other coaches. How has that gone?
“It’s been great collaboration between the staff, myself, other position coaches, coaches together as a group, players, player input,” Kafka said. “It’s been really good collaboration there.”
If Daboll remains as head coach, it would seem unlikely that Kafka would stay on. Being bumped back down to a non-play calling role can’t help him advance his career, so it would seem logical that he would look for a job with more responsibility.
