Giants seemingly want to make surprising call for head-coaching vacancy

When the New York Giants parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll on Nov. 10, they promoted offensive coordinator Mike Kafka to the role of interim head coach and also revealed that general manager Joe Schoen would "lead the search for a new head coach." 

The Giants have since dropped back-to-back games with Kafka leading the charge to fall to 2-10 on what's become yet another lost season for the organization. Nevertheless, it sounds like Giants ownership is rooting for Kafka to essentially win the full-time job before Week 18 wraps up.

Do Giants want to stick with Mike Kafka beyond 2025? 

"They do want to give interim coach Mike Kafka a real run at the job," NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared about the Giants ahead of their "Monday Night Football" game at the 10-2 New England Patriots. "Going into Monday night’s game in Foxborough, and through two games, Kafka’s shown an ability to juggle play-calling and be the head coach, with the offense having run up 517 yards and 27 points in Detroit last week, and 336 yards and 20 points on a high-end Packers defense the week before without Jaxson Dart at QB."

It makes sense that people within the Giants would want to keep Dart and Kafka together after Big Blue selected the signal-caller in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. That said, the promise of what Dart may become as a pro could attract some big-name candidates to the Giants come January. It's also worth noting that second-year Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has flourished while working with a coaching staff that was hired after he finished his rookie campaign. 

Dart missed Kafka’s first two games as interim head coach while in the concussion protocol. The rookie is expected to start for the Giants at the Patriots. 

Kafka was permitted to fire defensive coordinator Shane Bowen shortly after the Giants squandered a double-digit lead for the fifth time in 12 games this season. That move won't give the Giants the talent on defense they're lacking, but it could light a fire under players who may not have been huge Bowen fans.

How many candidates does Joe Schoen have in mind for Giants job?

"Kafka’s on a pared-down list of about 10 candidates that GM Joe Schoen has built, a list that Schoen has curated over the years on the advice of mentors who’d tell him that a good GM would always keep one," Breer added. "That doesn’t mean the Giants won’t add to the list. But it does mean that, while they’re researching a wide range of options, they won’t interview the whole football world for a job that will be highly coveted in the industry."

It's reportedly too early to say if the Giants will retain Schoen through the winter. Schoen's rosters have gone 11-35 since the start of the 2023 season, and it's fair to wonder if players on the current Giants squad are already dreaming about their offseason vacations with the club eliminated from the playoffs. 

As of Monday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Giants as 7.5-point underdogs against the Patriots. Kafka leading his team to an upset win at Gillette Stadium could potentially prove to be the beginning of a run that helps him land the full-time gig after the new year gets underway.