The New York Giants have had a busy start to the offseason. After John Harbaugh was surprisingly fired by the Baltimore Ravens, the team moved quickly to hire him as their new head coach. With Harbaugh’s arrival, that paved the way for the team’s interim head coach in 2025, Mike Kafka, to find a new home in the NFL.
Over the past few years, Kafka’s work with the Giants as their offensive coordinator earned him consideration as a head coach across the league. However, this time around, Kafka never really emerged as a true candidate for any of the head coach openings. According to several reports, that has led him to join Dan Campbell‘s coaching staff with the Detroit Lions.
Mike Kafka Gets Hired by Lions After Departing Giants
Kafka, 38, has been a finalist for multiple head coaching jobs in recent years. Now, an opportunity to learn from one of the best with Dan Campbell in Detroit.
As the Giants labored through another rough campaign, the team decided that it was time to move on from Brian Daboll as their head coach. Kafka replaced Daboll as the interim head coach to finish out the season, but he didn’t do much to change the team’s fortunes, which made it unlikely that he would be hired as the team’s full-time head coach.
Kafka’s work as a coach on the offensive side of the ball, though, still made him an enticing option for various assistant coach openings across the league. The expectation was that, at the very least, Kafka could land a job as an offensive coordinator, while also potentially emerging as a candidate for a couple of head coach openings.
Instead, interest in Kafka wasn’t as great as initially expected. However, that didn’t stop him from finding a new landing spot, and it’s one that will surely catch some attention. Reports Kafka will be joining Campbell’s staff in a high-ranking offensive role, as the Lions look to put together a bounce-back campaign on offense after struggling in the wake of former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s departure.
“Former Giants interim coach Mike Kafka is joining the Lions in a high-ranking offensive staff role, per sources,” Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported in a post on X. “Kafka, 38, has been a finalist for multiple head coaching jobs in recent years. Now, an opportunity to learn from one of the best with Dan Campbell in Detroit.”
Giants Moving on Without Mike Kafka
GettyHead coach Mike Kafka of the New York Giants reacts during the fourth quarter of the game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
Detroit already hired Drew Petzing to be its new offensive coordinator, but Campbell still wasn’t content with the makeup of his coaching staff. As a result, he’s bringing in Kafka, who already has a wealth of experience as an offensive coordinator, to help out in a high-ranking role that could help him further establish himself as a head coach candidate in the future.
Ever since taking over as the Giants’ head coach, Harbaugh has appeared intent on completely rebuilding his coaching staff, so it isn’t much of a surprise to see Kafka has landed with a new team. However, now that he’s officially gone, Harbaugh is going to have to kick it into high gear when it comes to building his coaching staff, as top candidates across the league are continuing to fly off the board on a daily basis.
Ex-Interim HC Mike Kafka Lands New Job After Giants Hire John Harbaugh