He is back, with a fancy new title and the financial uptick that is commensurate with a promotion.
For all the speculation that Mike Kafka after only two years would extricate himself from Brian Daboll, the reality turned out to be that he is the only coordinator from Daboll’s first staff with the Giants to return in 2024.
“I love working with Dabes, I love working for Dabes,’’ Kafka said Monday as players arrived at the team facility for the start of the offseason workout program. “It’s been a collaborative process. Have we got all the results we wanted each and every day? Sure, we want to go win every single game, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. We go through the ups and downs of a season and we’re all competitive, we all want to win. That’s what I love about him.’’
After the 2022 season, Kafka was called in by four teams to interview for head coaching openings as the Giants were coming off a winning season and their first playoff victory since 2011.
Kafka’s first year as an offensive coordinator was certainly encouraging as Daboll entrusted him with the play-calling duties.
The Giants slumped to 6-11 in 2023 and the offense ranked 30th in the NFL in scoring at 15.6 points per game.
Still, Kafka received an interview for the Seahawks’ head-coach opening.
During last season’s rocky ride, Daboll at times took over the play-calling on offense, but Kafka ended the season retaining the role.
“I don’t know if that’s been out there or anything,’’ Kafka said. “All I know is, last year is last year. There’s a lot of things we need to get better at, from coaches, players, everybody. We just got to improve. So I’m not going to go too far into the past. I put that in my rearview. We’ve learned from it, we’ve grown from it.’’
There is no word yet from Daboll if he will handle the play-calling himself this season or give it back to Kafka.
“Yeah, every year is different — you got to go through the evaluation process, and this year is no different,’’ Kafka said, not addressing a question asking if he wanted to continue to call the plays.
If he calls the plays or not, Kafka returns not only as the offensive coordinator but was also designated as the assistant head coach.
Daboll has already included Kafka, 36, in several organizational, logistical and medical meetings he was not invited to attend the past two years.
“It’s certainly an honor to have that title,’’ Kafka said. “I don’t take it lightly.”
“That’s been really cool to be a part of really the backbone on how we’re going to do this thing.’’