Giants’ OC Mike Kafka will call plays, says Brian Daboll

Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will call plays for the New York Giants, head coach Brian Daboll confirmed on Monday.

“I have a lot of confidence in Mike,” Daboll said. “We’ll stay with how we did things in the preseason.”

Up until this point, Daboll had been non-committal about the offensive ply-calling role.

Kafka, who had never previously called plays, was quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs prior to joining Daboll’s new staff with the Giants this season.

Kafka called plays throughout the spring and summer, working from upstairs in the coaches’ booth during the Giants’ three preseason games.

Daboll was offensive coordinator and play-caller for the Buffalo Bills from 2018-2021 before getting joining the Giants this offseason for his first head-coaching opportunity. Daboll had previously also been offensive coordinator in stops with the Chiefs, Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns.

The Giants have gone through a process during the spring and summer of melding Daboll’s offensive concepts with some Kafka brought from Kansas City.

GM Joe Schoen had said several months ago that he would prefer Daboll not call plays. It is also fair to wonder if this was always the understanding between Daboll and Kafka. Why would Kafka have left a good job with a highly-successful team and a creative offense for a job where he would not have play-calling responsibilities?

Now we know officially that he will.

Other notes

• Daboll deflected several questions about the release of Blake Martinez.

“Good luck to Blake and the rest of the guys that were released,” Daboll said.

• Daboll said edge defenders Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari were “day to day” and refused to speculate on their availability for Week 1.
• Daboll would not to newly-acquired defensive backs Tony Jefferson and Fabian Moreau being on the game day roster vs. the Titans.

“We’ll give them as much as they can handle. I know the coaches will be meeting with those guys extra,” Daboll said. “We’ll make decisions with players that are on the practice squad toward the end of the week.”

• On the practice schedule, unusual this week with the team practicing Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday with Thursday as an off day.

“I’ve been part of a team that has done it this way for the past few years. So it wasn’t unusual for me,” Daboll said. “I think that today you get a good introduction. You go hard these next couple of days, you get time re-group and re-evaluate where you are on Thursday and have a normal Friday.”