The New York Giants expect to retain offensive coordinator Mike Kafka despite his alleged unhappiness in East Rutherford, but he’s still drawing interest as a potential head coach.
Kafka has already interviewed with the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks, and now the ‘Hawks are circling back.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Seattle is setting up a second interview with Kafka and several other head coaching candidates.
The #Seahawks are setting up second interviews with head coaching candidates, including #Panthers DC Ejiro Evero, #Raiders DC Patrick Graham, #Giants OC Mike Kafka, #Rams DC Raheem Morris and #Cowboys DC Dan Quinn, per sources. There likely will be others too. A thorough process.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 21, 2024
This is the second consecutive year that Kafka has drawn significant interest as part of the league’s coaching carousel. He interviewed with both the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals for their vacant positions a year ago and was a finalist in Arizona’s search.
The Seahawks are unlikely to draw this out much further indicating that Kafka is, once again, a head coaching finalist.
The 36-year-old Kafka was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2010 NFL draft and spent six years as a journeyman backup before becoming an assistant coach at Northwestern, his alma mater, in 2016. He made the leap to the NFL in 2017 when he joined the Kansas City Chiefs as an offensive quality control coach.
In 2018, Kafka became their quarterbacks coach and remained in that post until being hired by Brian Daboll as the Giants’ offensive coordinator in 2022.
Under Kafka, the Giants have struggled offensively and finished near the bottom of the league this past season. However, those struggles were largely the result of injuries, poor offensive line play, and underwhelming performances by the team’s three quarterbacks. He was also reportedly smothered by Daboll, who relieved him of the play-calling duties on numerous occasions.
Despite those issues, NFL teams still view Kafka as a viable head coaching candidate and believe a divorce from Daboll would serve him well.
