When Chiefs coach Andy Reid called offering Mike Kafka a job in early 2017, Kafka’s then-boss half-heartedly tried to guilt him into staying right where he was.
“How could you do this to me?” Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald laughed, as he remembered the story of trying to keep his prized graduate assistant.
That scheme lasted about five seconds.
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After acting as Kafka’s primary recruiter and later head coach at Northwestern, Fitzgerald had stayed in touch throughout Kafka’s six-year career as an NFL backup quarterback. And when he learned Kafka was hanging up his spikes to pursue a career in coaching, well, it wasn’t long before Kafka was back at his alma mater.
Even early on in Kafka’s first season as a coach, it became apparent to Fitzgerald that Kafka wouldn’t be in Evanston, Ill., very long.
Kafka was a natural coach. He offered a calm, reassuring perspective to his quarterbacks, an easy relatability given the proximity to his own playing days, an inquisitive mind and inherent creativity. He also came with his own lessons learned as a backup competing for reps and dealing with injuries.
“For me, right away, it was like, ‘This is exactly what I want to do,’” Kafka said of his first few days at Northwestern. “A couple days into it, I called my wife and was like, ‘This is what I want to do forever.’”
Alli Kafka, who met Mike as a freshman at Northwestern and married him in 2014, vaguely remembers that conversation. But that’s only because she knew before Mike did how passionate he would be about it.
“I was ready for the call,” Alli said with a laugh.
The next big call Mike Kafka would get, the one from Reid, wasn’t a surprise to Fitzgerald, either.
The Wildcats coach didn’t want to lose one of his most promising young coaches, but he also knew his efforts would be futile. The NFL was calling. Kafka had to answer.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Kafka recalled Fitzgerald asking, half-joking.
“I’m like, ‘Uh, yeah,’” Kafka responded.
Reid, who coached Kafka with the Eagles after he was drafted by Philadelphia in 2010, had taken note of Kafka’s move into the coaching field and didn’t wait long to see if his former quarterback was ready for his return to the NFL to work with his new star pupil: Patrick Mahomes.
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“I’ll be on the next flight,” Kafka told Reid.
Kafka’s decision that day set in motion a meteoric rise through the NFL coaching ranks. Upon his arrival in Kansas City as offensive quality control coach, Kafka immediately got to work mentoring Mahomes, helping the young superstar win an MVP in his first season as a starter and a Super Bowl in his second. Meanwhile, Kafka had become the Chiefs’ quarterbacks coach, later adding the title of passing game coordinator, and his work in Kansas City began to attract attention.
The now-35-year-old Kafka had always known there would be somewhat of a ceiling in Kansas City with Reid calling plays, so when Giants coach Brian Daboll called this past offseason, offering him a chance to do so while serving as New York’s offensive coordinator, he jumped at the opportunity.
In their first season together, they transformed a Giants offense that ranked 31st in the NFL in scoring and yardage in 2021 into one with a reputation for creativity and wildly outperforming expectations. Most recently, Kafka and Daboll helped deliver the Giants’ first playoff victory in 11 years, in large part due to a masterful offensive game plan against the Vikings that empowered quarterback Daniel Jones to deliver an historic performance.
Perhaps even more impressive, Kafka and company have created a multi-faceted, innovative and productive attack despite injuries taking their toll on the offensive line and robbing the wide receiver position of some of its top talent, leaving the Giants reliant on practice squad elevations and waiver wire acquisitions. And they’ve made it work. It’s no surprise, then, that after his first year in New York, Kafka has already been called about three head coaching vacancies.
For those that have been with Kafka since the early days, it’s not a shock that others in the NFL world have caught on to what they’ve known for a long time.
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“Anybody that was here when Mike was a student-athlete or that worked with Mike when he was here, none of us are surprised at all with his success in coaching,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s just like, ‘Yep, could’ve told you that one. That was a no-brainer.’ So I just can’t believe he’s not a head coach yet, you know, that’s me. But his day will come.”
Kafka might be one of the NFL’s latest young head coach prospects, but he fell in love with the game in an old-fashioned way: VHS tapes.
A Southside of Chicago native, Kafka was raised on Walter Payton highlights and “Football Follies” videos, showing kickers whiffing and other hilarious bloopers. He started playing football with his friends, and it only heightened his love.
His dad, Mike Kafka Sr., said that even from a young age, he took the sport seriously.
“He’s kind of got a soft demeanor,” Kafka Sr. said, “but he’s very competitive.”
Kafka attended St. Rita, one of the many Chicago-area Catholic all-boys powerhouse high schools, where he played baseball and football. A tall, rangy athlete, Kafka started at safety initially, but once coaches noticed his throwing ability, they moved him to quarterback as a sophomore. The next season, he split time at the position and wide receiver because the team needed help on the outside.
“That’s kind of the way he was. … And that’s the way he is, the way he coaches. He’s gonna take the guys and put them in the best position,” high school coach Todd Kuska said, foreshadowing Kafka’s work with Mahomes and Jones. “And it’s kind of what he allowed us to do with him.”
Senior year was Kafka’s show at quarterback. He harbored dreams of making it to the NFL, and while he certainly possessed the quarterbacking talent to make that dream a reality, it was his leadership that made him stand out from the crowd, according to his coach.
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Even almost two decades later, Kuska can recall a game against rival Mount Carmel. Running a bootleg play, Kafka threw a perfect pass to a wide open receiver. It was a sure touchdown — until the receiver dropped the ball.
Before the kid could get worked up, Kafka, who was already running thanks to the rollout, was at his side, encouraging him: “Come on, pick yourself up. Let’s go. We got the next play.”
“You can have all the athletic talent in the world and you can work as hard as he did,” Kuska said. “But to have that intangible of knowing when guys need to be picked up and not doing it just because people are watching. We needed that to be done, and he did it.”
Mike Kafka had to wait for his opportunity to shine at Northwestern. Before it came, he made sure to give himself as much of an advantage as possible, pouring himself into film study. “I wasn’t starting or playing, so I had to find an edge somewhere and try to find a way to learn more and help our guys and help myself be a better player.” (A. Messerschmidt / Getty Images)Kafka could always tell when the Wildcats’ offensive line needed a jolt. Initially a backup at Northwestern, after each series, he would watch his teammates’ faces as they walked off the field.
“I knew when I was a starter, I was always going to walk off with them backwards so that they would see my face,” Kafka said. “I thought that was so critical that they weren’t going to walk off the field, rolling their eyes, looking down at the ground, heads down moping. I wanted to make sure whatever happened, good or bad, when they came off the field, I was coming off with them, like we were looking each other in the eyes.”
As a redshirt freshman in 2006, Fitzgerald’s first season as head coach, Kafka earned the opportunity to start the first four games of the season before suffering a hamstring injury and losing the job. He played backup the next two years before becoming the Wildcats’ team co-captain and a program record-setter as a senior.
While Kafka’s talent was always obvious, Fitzgerald watched the young player blossom into a leader over the years. He witnessed the quarterback handle his injury setbacks with grace, not only that first season but as they continued to hamper his playing career.
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Kafka, though, didn’t let those physical ailments curb his desire to learn.
If the staff wasn’t ready when Kafka walked into a meeting room or a coach’s office, well, that wasn’t really an option. Among Kafka’s favorite things to do at Northwestern was pepper his coaches with a seemingly endless list of queries.
“Why did we do that?”
“Why don’t we do that?”
“What about that play”
“What can I do to get better?”
“How can I improve?”
“What am I missing?”
“How can I be a better leader?”
“How can I be a better communicator?”
“What do I need to do to win the starting job?”
“It was like, ‘Mike, get out of my office!’” Fitzgerald said with a laugh.
Kuska saw early evidence of Kafka’s curious mind and football IQ in high school — Kafka was the first quarterback Kuska ran read plays with because the quarterback could make split-second decisions. Kafka points to that cerebral side developing more at Northwestern and working with then-offensive coordinator Mick McCall. At the collegiate level, he was no longer the best athlete, so he had to find an edge elsewhere.
“I love learning,” Kafka said. “I love growing, and it was gonna give me an edge as a player, because at that time I wasn’t starting or playing, so I had to find an edge somewhere and try to find a way to learn more and help our guys and help myself be a better player.”
Kafka made his mark, and his name is sprinkled throughout Northwestern’s record book.
His collegiate career culminated in a memorable Outback Bowl performance, in which he completed 47 of 78 passes for 532 yards and four touchdowns. He set a then-NCAA all-time record with participation in 98 offensive plays (78 passes, 20 rushes) in the game. Coincidentally enough, Mahomes now owns the record with 100 plays in a 2016 performance for Texas Tech.
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While his 78-pass outing included five interceptions, it also included him leading the Wildcats back from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter. Northwestern lost 38-35 in overtime.
“He just was unflappable,” Fitzgerald said, echoing similar comments that have been made about Kafka’s current pupil, Daniel Jones. “He just kept gripping it and ripping it. That was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by a player just dealing with the adversity in-game and just doing his thing.”
Mike Kafka didn’t play a lot during his six-year NFL career, but he made sure not to let his time in the league go to waste, taking important lessons with him that have helped make him a better coach. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)Philadelphia offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was impressed with Kafka from the outset, immediately seeing the toughness and intelligence he observed on Northwestern film translate to the Eagles practice field — even as a rookie.
“He had done so well with his preparation on a daily basis that the next morning he was ready to go,” Mornhinweg said of the quarterback he worked with more than a decade ago. “He could take something that was installed, I mean, he would get this book, he would get on the film and then he would go out and almost always he would be able to execute at a high level very quickly.”
Kafka spent a couple of seasons in Philadelphia, then became an NFL journeyman with stops in New England, Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Tennessee and Cincinnati over a six-year span. The life of a backup was familiar territory for Kafka by this point, and he used his time in each place as an opportunity to digest as much information as he could.
“As a backup in the pros, you don’t get a lot of reps in general, so you’ve got to take a bunch of mental reps,” Kafka said. “You’ve got to work with the second- and third-teamers, and you also gotta be able to give feedback to the starter that’s real. He’s gonna have the coach obviously, but a lot of times when you’re just talking peer to peer, it can resonate differently.”
After his NFL playing career ended in 2016, Fitzgerald gave Kafka a chance to try the coaching route, and Kafka immediately took to the behind-the-scenes perspective.
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“It’s a different animal when you walk out there and you got a whole playbook printed and copied and made: All your scripts and sheets and papers are all done,” Kafka said. “As a player, you just take it for granted, throw it out when you’re done. But somebody up there was cramming on that all night to get that perfectly done for you. And that’s what I realized as a young GA at Northwestern. It was like, ‘Wow, there’s so much stuff that happens behind the scenes just to get one install done, one practice plan prepared.’ There’s just a lot of work that I appreciate now.”
After one season as a graduate assistant at Northwestern, Kafka received that phone call from Reid that changed his life forever.
“(He was) very smart, meticulous in his preparation as a player,” Reid recalled of his time coaching Kafka in Philadelphia. “Inquisitive. He wanted to know everything about all the spots and positions, and how they affect the play. And he’s a good person. So I thought that that would transfer into being a good coach.”
Early in his tenure as an offensive assistant, Kafka was tasked with putting together a plan for the development of Mahomes while the rookie sat and learned behind longtime NFL veteran Alex Smith. In the early days, Kafka was Mahomes’ right-hand man, helping him learn or adjust his fundamentals, in addition to his other quality control obligations.
Later on, when Kafka became the Chiefs quarterbacks coach, he and Mahomes forged a special bond, each one learning constantly from the other. Kafka told The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen last year that Mahomes helped him learn to embrace each individual player, both their strengths and their weaknesses, and build game plans with flexibility.
“I think that was just such a great opportunity for me to grow as a coach,” Kafka said.
Reid watched Kafka grow as he installed certain areas of the offense to players. His presentation and teaching came naturally, and it blossomed.
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“As he did it, he really picked up on it quickly,” Reid said, “and I kind of probably relate that to him being a quarterback and understanding the huddle and talking to his peers there.”
Mike Kafka called his time working with Chiefs superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes as “a great opportunity for me to grow as a coach.” (Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Aside from six months together with the Patriots in 2013, Daboll and Kafka had no history together. When asked recently why he hired Kafka, Daboll said it was because Kafka had good presence in his coordinator interview, handling the room well. He could tell Kafka would be a good teammate. He could also tell Kafka was smart.
“I thought he brought a lot of cool ideas to the table when we’re sitting down, and we started getting into the schematic part of it,” Daboll said.
Kafka developed his imagination and creativity by working with mentors such as Reid, Mornhinweg and others, then put his own stamp on things. But as Kafka’s friend and Giants tight ends coach Andy Bischoff said, he also doesn’t need to be right all of the time. He’s eager to gather perspective from the rest of the staff. He’ll make sure to poll the position group leaders rather than trying to be the all-knowing expert.
Take offensive line protections for example, which is different in Reid’s world than the Giants’ strategy. While Kafka might be inclined to do things a way he’s familiar with, he often listens to offensive line coach Bobby Johnson.
“In football, there’s a lot of different ways to win,” Bischoff said. “Largely it comes down to fundamentals and technique and turnovers, but there’s a lot of different ways to make good plays, and he’s just vulnerable enough to say, ‘Yeah, I can see it that way. Even though I used to do it this way, I can see it that way.’”
It’s not just his fellow coaches contributing. Kafka takes input from players. Giants backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor said, “Our room is very open when it comes to discussion about what we like, what we don’t like, what we think a defense is going to give us. He takes our input seriously and puts together a great game plan with it.”
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Kafka’s combination of delegating and listening has resulted in a transformed Giants offense. Early in the season, it relied heavily on star running back Saquon Barkley, but it has evolved late in the season to feature more of Jones’ talents — both running and passing.
The Giants’ revamped offense combined with their playoff run has Kafka receiving increased interest around the NFL among teams with head coach vacancies. Three teams — the Panthers, Colts and Texans — have requested interviews. Whether a top job comes this year or in the years to follow, expect it to happen.
“He’d do a great job as a head coach,” Reid said. “He’s good with people, and he’s smart. He’d be good with the ownership and good with players, too. Still be able to relate to the players. And you know, he’s young enough to where it wasn’t that long ago that he was playing.”
When Kafka got the Giants job, Fitzgerald sent a text telling him he was proud and to trust himself. He also tossed in a sarcastic barb on Kafka’s move to a bigger media market along the lines of: “Have fun with that.”
While Fitzgerald hasn’t watched Kafka’s weekly press conferences, his prediction on Kafka’s approach wasn’t too far off.
“I’m sure it’s very business-like. It’s very matter of fact,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s not trying to be anything other than himself, but he probably can’t wait to go get back in the film room and create a plan to help the team win. He’s not trying to make this about him. That’s just not the way he operates.”
(Top photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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