Giants' Brian Daboll may take over play-calling duties full-time
Giants head coach Brian Daboll. Credit: Jim McIsaac
ORLANDO, Fla. — Mike Kafka received a promotion to assistant head coach this offseason, but he may be losing one of his key responsibilities as the Giants’ offensive coordinator the past two seasons. Coach Brian Daboll said at the NFL‘s annual meeting on Tuesday morning he is “looking into” a change in play-calling duties and considering taking it over himself full-time after doing so on several occasions last season.
“There are quite a bit of people nowadays that do that,” Daboll said of head coaches who also call either offensive or defensive plays, citing 20 of them. “It’s something I’ll look into. And whatever I feel is best for the football team, that’s the way we’ll go.”
Daboll has much more experience — and has had much more success — calling plays than Kafka. He also admitted he misses that task. “I did it for a long time,” Daboll said.
It was Daboll’s work as offensive coordinator for the Bills that helped him get the Giants’ head job, but he also was offensive coordinator in Cleveland, Miami and Kansas City (not to mention for a national championship season at Alabama). Kafka has only been the primary play-caller for two years in the NFL, both with the Giants. During that time the offense has averaged 18.6 points per game and last year it was ranked 30th in scoring (15.6).
Despite those numbers, Daboll said Kafka “earned” his promotion in title and it allows him to now sit in on meetings with medical, strength and evaluation staffs that he would not normally be exposed to as just a coordinator. The intention is to better prepare Kafka for a future head coaching role. He has interviewed for several openings since arriving with the Giants and was a finalist in Seattle this offseason.
Notes & quotes: Daboll offered his first public comments on some of the big free-agency acquisitions by the Giants on Tuesday, including edge rusher Brian Burns (“Great person . . . productive player, young player”), running back Devin Singletary, whom he had previously coached in Buffalo (“He’s smart, he’s tough, he’s been productive since he’s played and he’s a really excellent teammate”), and offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemanor (“He’s got some flexibility” to play tackle or guard) . . . Daboll offered little information beyond what general manager Joe Schoen said Monday regarding the team’s position waiting to see if TE Darren Waller retires or returns for the 2024 season. “We’ll give him time,” Daboll said.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
