Tag: mike kafka

Volatility issues cost Brian Daboll coaching jobs prior to Giants hire

The big offseason headline plaguing the New York Giants has been the volatility of head coach Brian Daboll.

Reports surfaced in October that the hot-headed Daboll was at odds with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and that things were beginning to boil over.

There was a belief that Martindale could be shown the door in-season but that ultimately culminated in early January when the two sides “parted ways.” Of course, that came after a major blow-up between Daboll and Martindale, which led to the latter storming out of the building.

Since then, additional reports have surfaced that Daboll’s work environment is “toxic” and his outbursts have become “personal.” Some staffers have even anonymously warned potential assistants to stay away.

There have been rumors that Daboll’s relationship with Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott also reached a breaking point before he was hired as Giants head coach in 2022. And apparently, it goes back even further than that.

During a Friday appearance on WFAN, Connor Hughes of SNY reported that Daboll was passed over for several coaching jobs in recent years because of his volatility and his inability to justify his hot-headed nature.

“I talked to people that knew there were issues in Cleveland, when he was an offensive coordinator there. The same volatility and heatedness in Cleveland,” Hughes said. “Remember, Daboll went through several coaching cycles before he got his job. There were some of those issues that were turned up in those coaching cycles and coaching interviews, and they wanted him to address those. And he didn’t address them overly well in some of those interviews, which is why those teams passed on him despite his success in Buffalo.”

Hughes went on to note that this is something that could continue to “deteriorate” and it may result in offensive coordinator Mike Kafka attempting to leave for a lateral move (if he’s not hired as a head coach).

“There’s not a zero percent chance that he takes a lateral move. That’s not completely incomprehensible — that’s still a situation that could be out there,” Hughes said. “When you have a coach that loses all three coordinators and maybe two of which because they don’t want to work with him anymore, that’s a red flag.”

Like many others, Hughes believes Daboll is a good coach and capable of course-correcting in the same way Tom Coughlin did. And the Giants fully intend to give him that opportunity.

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Giants would receive draft picks for losing Mike Kafka, Brandon Brown

The New York Giants are in danger of losing some of their young leadership group to other teams seeking to build their front offices and coaching staffs.

Assistant general manager Brandon Brown and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka have been making the rounds this offseason, interviewing for GM and head coaching vacancies around the league.

Giant fans are nervous as the poaching is coming way too soon in the team’s rebuild and could stunt the team’s progress should they lose one or both men.

There is a silver lining, however.

If the Giants lose Brown and/or Kafka to other teams in promotional moves, they will be eligible to receive compensation in upcoming NFL drafts as both are considered minority candidates.

Yes, as per an addition to the Rooney Rule in 2020, teams that “lose a minority executive or coach to another team … would receive a third-round compensatory pick for two years. If a team lost both a coach and personnel member, it would receive a third-round compensatory pick for three years.”

The picks naturally come at the end of the third round. The expansion of the Rooney Rule aims to incentivize teams to hire and develop minority candidates in leadership roles.



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Giants’ Mike Kafka gets second head coaching interview with Seahawks

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.

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.



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New York Giants have no intention of moving on from Mike Kafka

The New York Giants have already lost two coordinators this offseason — Wink Martindale and Thomas McGaughey — and they could soon lose a third.

ESPN’s Jordan Raanan recently reported that offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is unhappy with head coach Brian Daboll’s repeated outburst and suffocating approach, and could seek an exit from East Rutherford.

“Mike Kafka, the more I hear, the less likely it is — and I know he’s still there now — even if he doesn’t get a head coaching job, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants let him out and he ends up somewhere else anyway,” Raanan said on the Breaking Big Blue podcast. “He’s unhappy.

“I had heard on multiple occasions that Kafka’s deal was that Brian Daboll was super suffocating. He was overly involved in the offense if that was possible — even though it’s his offense. But really, just in a way, undercutting, completely undercutting Kafka, who is the offense coordinator.”

If Kafka intends to leave the Giants, they aren’t going to make it easy.

Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, who often speaks on behalf of the team, reports that the Giants do not intend to move on from Kafka this offseason.

The Giants have no intention of moving on from Kafka. If he gets a head coaching gig, of course he will depart. It will be interesting to see what happens if there is outside interest in hiring Kafka as an offensive coordinator and if Kafka is piqued by that interest. There were times this past season when Daboll got more involved in the offense and the play-calling, and Daboll did not state unequivocally that Kafka will continue to call the plays in 2024.

“Those are conversations we’ll have here over the next few months, what direction we’ll go and we’ll make those decisions as we do a full evaluation,’’ Daboll said after the Giants wrapped up their 6-11 season.

Although it was an obvious untruth, it’s important to remember that Daboll also initially said the team had no intention of parting ways with Martindale.

The intent to move on from Martindale was always there but Daboll needed the public narrative to differ. That could be the same case with Kafka, who is purportedly unhappy with how things have played out in East Rutherford.

So far this offseason, Kafka has interviewed with the Tennessee Titans and Seattle Seahawks for their vacant head coaching positions but does not appear in line to get either job. In the interim, he will serve as head coach of the West team in the 2024 Shrine Bowl.

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Giants’ Mike Kafka unhappy, may want out of New York

The New York Giants have a problem that’s beginning to boil over, and their attempts to control the narrative have failed.

After months of denying that tension exists inside 1925 Giants Drive, it’s now apparent that the environment, as some staffers have suggested, has become toxic.

On Black Monday, the Giants fired special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey.

Whether or not that termination was justified — and many believe it was — an end to that relationship was inevitably coming. Although he toed the company line publicly, McGaughey was unhappy behind the scenes, put off by head coach Brian Daboll’s routine eruptions.

“(McGaughey) was also not especially happy. He kind of wanted out,” ESPN’s Jordan Raanan reported on the latest Breaking Big Blue podcast.

Immediately following the termination of McGaughey, Daboll informed defensive assistants Drew and Kevin Wilkins, that they too were fired.

The belief was that Drew Wilkins, the right-hand man of defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, may have been the one leaking frustrations to the media.

Raanan isn’t so sure.

“I still have not found a single person who said a bad thing about Drew Wilkins,” Raanan said. “I know a lot of people think he’s the one out there — the Wilkins brothers — spilling all the beans to people. I really don’t think that’s true. I don’t think they talk to anybody.”

After the Wilkins brothers were fired, it set off a chain reaction inside the building. Martindale unloaded on Daboll in an expletive-filled rant and then stormed out.

Initially, it was reported that Martindale would resign, but he thought better of that. The Giants would control where he could work in 2024, so instead the two sides came to an agreement and “mutually parted ways.”

With two unhappy coordinators and two unhappy assistants gone, the problem was solved for the Giants, right?

Wrong.

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who has reportedly faced the brunt of Daboll’s eruptions, is also unhappy. And even if he doesn’t land any of the head coaching jobs he’s interviewed for, Raanan expects him to take his leave from East Rutherford as well.

“Mike Kafka, the more I hear, the less likely it is — and I know he’s still there now — even if he doesn’t get a head coaching job, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants let him out and he ends up somewhere else anyway,” Raanan said. “He’s unhappy.”

Kafka’s displeasure is nothing new. Word has filtered out over the last several weeks that he’s less than enthused by the situation in East Rutherford.

“I had heard this weeks ago,” Raanan said. “At that point, I had heard it from multiple people. At this point, I’m hearing it from five, six, seven people.

“I had heard on multiple occasions that Kafka’s deal was that Brian Daboll was super suffocating. He was overly involved in the offense if that was possible — even though it’s his offense. But really, just in a way, undercutting, completely undercutting Kafka, who is the offense coordinator.”

Raanan added that one assistant coach, who didn’t come with Daboll from Buffalo and had no personal ties to Martindale, said the head coach repeatedly makes things personal.

That is not the first time a similar accusation has been made.

“I know of at least a handful of people on the coaching staff who weren’t happy or completely disliked Brian Daboll this year,” Raanan said. “That’s just not healthy.”

Despite all of the dysfunction, Giants ownership remains supportive of Daboll and hasn’t blamed him for any of the fallout.

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New York Giants staffers view current environment as ‘toxic’

When the New York Giants parted ways with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and fired his two most trusted assistants, Drew and Kevin Wilkins, there was hope that media leaks would cease.

That has not been the case.

Although Martindale and the Wilkins brothers were clearly a non-fit with head coach Brian Daboll and the current regime, it would appear they weren’t alone.

Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, who revealed troubling details about Daboll’s relationship with coordinators and assistants earlier this week, reports that staffers who remain inside the building in East Rutherford view the current environment as “toxic.”

“This is about the Giants as a process, which is still broken and viewed as broken,” Leonard said on the latest Talkin’ Ball Podcast. “There are still people in the building, and one staffer advised a coach calling about a vacancy and said not to come here because the environment has a toxicity to it.”

Despite the many negative reports, Daboll still has the support of Giants ownership and has not yet “taken a hit” for how things have been handled. However, if this continues, that is subject to change.

“This was nothing new. Daboll had eviscerated people last season, too,” Leonard said. “DeAndre Smith, the running backs coach last year who ended up leaving for the Indianapolis Colts. . . He was someone who caught Daboll’s fury.

“This has been going on since the first season started but it’s gotten worse. And then a brighter light gets shined on it as the losing happens and things spiral.”

Getting rid of Martindale isn’t going to solve these problems for the Giants, especially given that the relationship between Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is equally volatile if not more so.

“If there’s any consistent element of the dynamic that people did not like about this season, it wasn’t Daboll-Martindale it was Daboll-Kafka,” Leonard said. “Numerous sources told me. . . that he has received the brunt of Daboll’s fury. One source says he is constantly second-guessed.”

Ultimately, Leonard admits, two distinct sides are establishing themselves at 1925 Giants Drive — those who believe Daboll is the right man for the job and those who don’t.

For the Giants to succeed, Daboll will need to find a way to get everyone on the same page.

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Giants’ Brian Daboll has ‘no composure,’ coaches warned to stay away

In the aftermath of defensive coordinator Wink Martindale “parting ways” with the New York Giants, several reports have surfaced suggesting that head coach Brian Daboll is erratic and irrational, and regularly dressed down his assistants in a personal fashion.

Those reports continued on Monday with Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News peeling back the curtain on the Giants’ internal strife even further.

In a deep dive into the deteriorating situation in East Rutherford, Leonard revealed several new details, including Daboll placing blame for the poor offensive performance on other coordinators and a complete refusal to accept any blame for the regression in 2023.

Leonard reveals that Daboll repeatedly took over play-calling, often losing his temper with coordinators for doing what he asked, all while deflecting any responsibility.

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

In Week 11, Daboll slammed Martindale for allowing the Washington Commanders to remain in the game despite their solid performance.

It was a repeat offense for Daboll.

Wink Martindale’s defense had forced four turnovers. Thomas McGaughey’s special teams unit had forced another. And Mike Kafka’s offense, with Tommy DeVito at quarterback, had scored two of its three touchdowns on short fields off those takeaways.

But now Washington’s offense was driving, aided by a Kayvon Thibodeaux roughing the passer penalty outside the red zone. And that’s when Brian Daboll started playing the blame game on Martindale and the defensive staff:

“You’re gonna lose this game just like you lost us the Jets game,” Daboll griped on the headset, according to numerous sources in the building.

Daboll was blaming the defense for the Giants’ infamous 13-10 overtime loss to the Jets on Oct. 29, in which the offense had thrown for -9 yards and Daboll’s late-game mismanagement had opened the door to a full-scale, team-wide meltdown.

AP Photo/John Minchillo

Daboll is never short on criticism but, apparently, is always short on solutions. That’s the trademark of an under-performer.

Daboll’s sideline behavior was destructive, in many coaches’ opinions. His input was never proactive, always reactionary. And his outrage was rarely accompanied by a suggested solution.

“He has no composure,” one team source said.

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Martindale reportedly reached out to Giants ownership as a way to circumvent Daboll, which eventually led general manager Joe Schoen to listen in on the dysfunction.

Now Schoen was monitoring the dynamic at Washington after being alerted by several meaningful parties that Daboll’s behavior and the sideline dynamic were not constructive.

Schoen would stay on the headsets for four games, sources say – against the Commanders, Patriots, Packers and Saints – before stepping back offline for the final three.

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Daboll is demanding — taking play-calling duties from Mike Kafka, giving them to other assistants, and then giving them back at random.

Daboll took playcalling away from Kafka multiple times, according to sources, and gave it back each time. He gave it to QB coach Shea Tierney for the second half at Dallas in Week 10, per sources.

Daboll’s “unpredictability,” one source said, was his defining trait. There was no pattern, rhyme or reason to his changes from others’ perspectives.

Daboll also took over Kafka’s offensive meetings in Week 7 ahead of a home game against Washington, as the Daily News first reported. And he didn’t give complete control back to Kafka until Week 11, after the offense had averaged 11.75 points during that 1-3 stretch.

Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

Want to join the New York Giants? Don’t, say some who have experienced Daboll’s wrath.

The story of the Giants’ 2023 undoing isn’t about a personal feud between Daboll and Martindale and the past, though. It’s about bad football and a flawed process that still exists inside the Giants’ walls.

It’s about an organization with enough problems that one Giants staffer recently advised an NFL assistant calling about a vacancy:

“Do not come here.”

Al Bello/Getty Images

Daboll is reportedly never wrong while all of those around him are always wrong. Although he apparently has no solutions, he doesn’t hesitate to place blame.

Daboll receives advice on his headset in those moments from an analytics and game management team. But one source called that collaboration a “broken process,” saying it’s not thorough or advanced. And regardless of what is discussed during the week, Daboll’s game day decisions become up-for-grabs, impulse calls without guardrails.

“It’s like, ‘Wait, what did we have that meeting for?” the source said. “There’s a lot of inconsistency or doing the direct opposite of what we had talked about. The rest of the league is too far ahead, and you see it affecting the results of games.”

Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

When Daboll gave Martindale the game ball following a Week 12 victory over the New England Patriots, it seemed staged and dishonest. And that’s because it was.

No one viewed Daboll giving Martindale the game ball after that 10-7 win over the Patriots as genuine. It was seen as a transparent, staged, public relations move. The players, however, did not mutiny. Daboll had cultivated support in the locker room.

Players stood by him publicly. One player said Daboll’s 2022 playoff berth and win still carried weight during this down time. Players also responded to a lighter practice schedule from training camp to the team’s walkthrough-filled final three weeks of the season.

Plenty of people in the building, including players, coaches and executives, said Daboll bought meaningful capital with last year’s success. But that now the pressure should turn up in Year Three because of how badly Year Two went.

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New York Giants’ Mike Kafka completes head coach interview with Titans

New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka officially interviewed for the Tennessee Titans head coaching vacancy on Friday.

The Titans parted ways with head coach Mike Vrabel this week after six seasons. Vrabel had a winning record in Nashville (56-48 including postseason) but he’s a defensive mind in a league where many teams are looking for offensive leadership.

Kafka was a hot head coaching candidate last season, interviewing for several openings, including Indianapolis, Carolina, and Arizona.

The Giants’ offense was atrocious for most of this season but much of that can be attributed to injuries along the offensive line and at quarterback, where three different players started at least five games.



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New York Giants’ Mike Kafka requested for Titans HC interview

New York Giants offensive coordiantor Mike Kafka has been requested to interview for the Tennessee Titans head coach vacancy, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network on Wednesday.

Despite the struggles of the Giants offense this season due to injuries and poor performances, Kafka seems to be generating a bit of interest as a head coach candidate.

For the most part, Kafka has shown promise working with Brian Daboll during their times with the Giants and the Buffalo Bills.

The Titans roster isn’t all that appealing considering the question marks they have on both sides of the ball. The offense is especially concerning with Derrick Henry on the way out and questions at the quarterback position.

We’ll see if anything comes from this head coach interview, but it will be something to monitor if the Giants need to replace all three coordinators.



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Giants report card: How we graded Big Blue in Week 18 win

The New York Giants defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, to leave a bad taste in their mouth as they head into the playoffs.

The Giants had a wire-to-wire win in Week 18 as they ended their five-game losing streak against the Eagles. Even at home, the Giants came into this game as pretty heavy underdogs but the team proved the doubters wrong going up 24-0 by the halftime break.

With the win the Giants end the season with a 6-11 record and 3-3 record in the division. New York now owns the sixth overall pick and has a lot to think about this offseason. For now, they are happy to spoil the end of Philadelphia’s season.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.

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