The safest path forward for Jaxson Dart starts with who not to hire. New York must avoid a short-term, legacy-chasing choice like Bill Belichick, whose recent track record and priorities don’t align with a rookie franchise quarterback’s long runway. The brief is simple: protect Dart’s development arc, not someone else’s win-total ambitions.
Mike Kafka now takes the headset as interim head coach, the Giants’ sixth since 2016, and league evaluators describe a markedly steadier hand than Brian Daboll. Kafka isn’t bombastic; he’s process-driven, even-keeled, and confident without the theatrics.
Expect a cleaner week-to-week operation and, crucially, more of the Kansas City DNA he helped run for Patrick Mahomes, according to ESPN’s reporting by Jordan Raanan.
Continuity is the headline on Sundays. Kafka is expected to keep play-calling, per ESPN, preserving the voice Dart already hears in his helmet and the structure that has lifted New York’s output.
With Dart as the starter, the Giants are averaging 23.6 points per game this season after languishing near the bottom of the league the previous two years. The shift should further emphasize quick answers, motion, and formation variety, and defined reads that turn protection challenges into timing wins.
The first box to tick is health. Dart remains in the concussion protocol after his fourth evaluation this year, and he may miss time. When he returns, Kafka’s remit grows from coordinator to developer-in-chief.
He’s done this before: in 2017, his job was assisting Mahomes’ onboarding, and those habits now transfer to Dart, film cadence, footwork discipline, situational scripts, and a red-zone menu that simplifies speed of thought.
Longer term, scheme continuity rides on how the remainder of the season plays out; a new permanent staff could force a second install, but Kafka’s steadying run gives New York a chance to avoid that reset. All of the above is from ESPN’s Raanan.
The belief around the league that Dart is worth building around didn’t vanish with Daboll’s exit. Brett Favre’s blunt post-firing read captured it neatly: the Giants likely beat Chicago if Dart finishes the game, and his emergence may have delayed this change as long as it did.
That puts the mandate in sharp focus, use Kafka’s calm, KC-influenced structure to safeguard the quarterback, raise the baseline, and make the next coaching decision about fit.
