Big Blue View
New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka has the challenge, and opportunity, of a lifetime ahead of him.
As the Giants’ offensive coordinator, he will be instrumental in developing rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. Dart has, thus far, looked every bit a future franchise quarterback. He’s made visible progress in practices and has been efficient, effective, and decisive in preseason games.
“I think Jaxson’s been really good with the opportunities he’s had in terms of the run game, the pass game, obviously having some production down field,” Kafka said when asked about the rookie on Monday.
It might be a bit much to say that Dart has exceeded expectations, at least internally. His selection may have been viewed as a Hail Mary by outside observers, but the Giants spent considerable time with all the quarterbacks and they were excited to trade up and select Dart in particular. So far, he’s proven that their excitement is well-placed. Not only has Dart been a very productive rookie passer, he’s handled the moment well. Not just throwing the ball, but the facets of playing quarterback that don’t necessarily show up on the box score.
“I think he’s just really starting to put together some of the stuff on the offense in terms of just the plays, understanding what we’re trying to do on offense,” Kafka said. “He’s done a great job with the leadership part of that and making sure that guys are in the right spot.”
Outside of several… venerable veterans like Russell Wilson, Greg Van Roten, and Graham Gano, the Giants are a pretty young team. They’re relying on a number of rookies (including Dart) and second year players at important positions. So far, the traits we’ve only heard about — his ‘mental horsepower’ and personal magnetism — have shown themselves in practice and those preseason reps.
“He’s working with guys in that second, that third group that may be young players, other rookies along side of him, other veterans that have played a lot of football as well, so he’s doing a great job of kind of leading the group.” Kafka said. “Again, we talk about an 11-man operation, he’s leaning on those veterans, he’s leaning on some of the older guys in the room and on that offensive line that have done it and played well and then he’s taking it to the next level.”
Dart has done well enough that the questions of whether he was worth the 25th overall pick have died down, only to be replaced with questions of when he’ll take the starting job from Russell Wilson.
And Kafka does have experience on that front. He was the offensive quality control coach for the Kansas City Chiefs when Patrick Mahomes was drafted in 2017, and the team’s quarterbacks coach from 2018 until he became the Giants’ offensive coordinator in 2022.
Mahomes sat for most of his rookie year, only getting on the field in the final week of the season. That’s contrasted by Brian Daboll’s experience...
