Giants coordinators Mike Kafka, Wink Martindale drawing league-wide interest
Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale answers questions from media during training camp in East Rutherford, N.J., on Aug. 8, 2022. Credit: Noah K. Murray
The Giants' offensive and defensive coordinators both have been requested to interview for other teams’ head coaching vacancies. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka has been requested by the Panthers, Texans and Colts. The Colts have also asked to interview defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.
Neither will interview this week, as the Giants are preparing for the divisional round of the playoffs, against the Eagles in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
“Touched on that a little bit last week,” Kafka said. "We’ll find the appropriate time that’s best for myself and the team. I know [coach Brian Daboll] hit on that this week about not doing them this week during the game week. [We will] try to keep that as normal as possible and then we’ll communicate and find a good time when that’s right.”
This is Kafka’s sixth year as an NFL coach. He spent the previous five seasons with Kansas City.
Said Martindale: “I’ve been locked in on Philly. We’re not interviewing this week. I think that when the time comes, if there’s still time when we can do it, I’d love to sit down and talk with them because that’s the same thing I did three years ago.
“And that’s how I met [president and chief executive officer] Mr. [John] Mara the first time. I sat down with him, and after that time on, I felt like he was a mentor and a friend. You’re talking about one of the titans in the league, and you’re working here. You’re working in, like I said, the greatest city and the greatest place in the world. It’s not a slam dunk anywhere. You just weigh your options and make a decision.”
Martindale lifted the Giants' defense.
“It’s an honor when they put [an interview request in] because I think it’s harder to get a head coaching job in this league than being in the Senate.”
Daboll, who was most recently the offensive coordinator in Buffalo before taking the Giants' job, and Kafka have seen Daniel Jones make remarkable strides in his fourth NFL season. He posted career highs in completion percentage (67.2), yardage (3,205) and passer rating (92.5). He threw a career-low five interceptions and threw 15 touchdowns, his second-highest career total. As a rookie in 2019, Jones threw 24 touchdown passes.
Notes & quotes
Cornerback Adoree’ Jackson missed seven weeks with a knee injury and was back on the field against the Vikings, helping to slow Minnesota’s outstanding receiver Justin Jefferson. Jackson said he was “thankful for the journey and to be able to come back and to play, and just be with the guys. I just think it was just that moment when you’re out on the field you cherish it.” About facing the Eagles’ A.J. Brown on Saturday night, Jackson said: “He is just a dog. I don’t know any other way to explain it.” . . . Kafka, looking back on Jones’ first playoff performance: “Daniel did a nice job. Obviously, had some really good production with his legs, good production with his arm. He made good decisions from the quarterback position and eliminating those turnovers, which is big in really any game. In the playoffs, those type of things get elevated. I thought he did a nice job, he directed the offense and he did all the things that we ask him to do from the quarterback position.”
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
