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.
