Giants Assistant Is Northwestern’s ‘Dream’ Pat Fitzgerald Replacement: Report

Getty Images Mike Kafka, of the New York Giants.

Brian Daboll’s coaching staff might get raided after all.

The New York Giants could lose offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to Northwestern University, according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, following the July 10 firing of head coach Pat Fitzgerald amid a hazing scandal involving the football team.

Kafka, who played quarterback for Northwestern from 2006 to 2009, interviewed for four NFL head coaching vacancies this offseason before returning to Big Blue. He would be considered the top choice in Evanston, per Feldman.

“The dream candidate for the school would probably be Kafka, a 35-year-old former Wildcat QB who grew up in Chicago and has risen fast up the NFL ranks,” Feldman wrote. “Northwestern has been terrible on offense for a while; Kafka seems like he could fix that pretty quickly.”

If Northwestern is looking for an offensive guru, Kafka could very well be their top target. Before joining the Giants, he worked extensively with Kansas City Chiefs superstar QB Patrick Mahomes on head coach Andy Reid’s staff. And in his first season in New York, Kafka’s offense scored 107 more points and gained 53 more first downs than it did the previous year.

Here’s what you need to know about his interest in the opening at Northwestern:

Would Mike Kafka Leave Giants for Northwestern’s Head Coach Job?

Kafka interviewed with the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers for their head coaching vacancies earlier this year.

Would he forgo that NFL momentum to return to help save his alma mater’s program?

Kafka was one of Fitzgerald’s first quarterbacks when he took over the program in 2006. By the time Kafka left in 2009, he held the school’s single-game (83.3 vs. Syracuse, 2009), single-season (.648 in 2009) and career (.641) marks for completion percentage, according to Northwestern Athletics.

In his final season, he led the Big Ten in passing yards with 3,430 yards, total offense with 286.8 yards per game, completions with 24.5 per game, and fewest interceptions with 2.44% of all passes being intercepted. He was drafted in 2010 in the fourth round by the Philadelphia Eagles but never caught on in the NFL. In four seasons (2010-15), he was on seven teams and appeared in only four games, all with the Eagles in 2011.

Fitzgerald gave Kafka his first coaching gig at the school — an offensive graduate assistant role — when his short-lived NFL playing career ended.

“First of all, he’s a Northwestern man, so he’s incredibly bright,” Fitzgerald told Paul Schwartz of the New York Post when the Giants hired Kafka in 2022. “He was unbelievably dedicated and just a relentless football player. … He came here, he went into a kind of a non-coaching role with the Chiefs and to see the way he’s grown up in this profession, I think he’s a superstar.”

NFL experts agree. Kafka’s name appears on nearly every 2024 coaching candidate shortlist, including ones compiled by Sports Illustrated, The Draft Network, and The 33rd Team.

That NFL momentum and Kafka’s potential loyalty to Fitzgerald could complicate a return, according to Feldman.

“[Kafka is] not far from becoming an NFL head coach at this point,” Feldman wrote. “He interviewed for a bunch of jobs last winter, so why jump into the craziness of the college game at a place that just canned someone he learned under?”

A Chicago native, he married his wife, Alli, in 2014 after they met as freshmen at Northwestern, according to The Athletic’s Charlotte Carroll.

Who Would Giants Turn to at Offensive Coordinator If Mike Kafka Left?

Put simply: A Kafka departure would be a crisis for Big Blue’s offense.

Kafka’s return would be a career first for quarterback Daniel Jones, who’s had different offensive play callers every season since entering the league in 2019. And with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale returning, New York probably envisioned some rare coaching continuity.

Those dreams would turn to nightmares with a midsummer Kafka departure.

Big Blue would immediately turn to in-house options first, according to NJ.com’s Daryl Slater. Candidates would include quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney and receivers coach Mike Groh, son of legendary Giants linebackers coach Al Groh.

Daboll could call his own number in the play-calling department, too.

“Daboll, an offensive-minded head coach, (could call) plays — though this seems unlikely, despite Daboll’s success as the Bills’ offensive coordinator from 2018-21,” wrote Slater. “It’s definitely something for Daboll to consider, if he loses Kafka.”

Other out-of-organization names to consider could include Bills quarterback coach Joe Brady, former Chargers and Texans assistant Pep Hamilton, and ex-Buccaneers play caller Byron Leftwich, according to GMEN HQ’s Stephen Samra.

New York clearly hopes it never comes to that — and that Kafka forgoes an opportunity at his alma mater for at least one more run with the Giants.