With the Giants rebuilding their offensive coaching staff, it seems they will steal away Chiefs quarterback coach Mike Kafka away from Patrick Mahomes.
When a situation is “kafkaesque”, it denotes a surreal, nightmarish landscape similar to the worlds Franz Kafka created in his writing.
Losing a quarterbacks coach may not seem that dramatic, but for Patrick Mahomes, losing Mike Kafka to the New York Giants could affect his development in the 2022 season.
Patrick Mahomes expected to lose Chiefs QB coach Mike Kafka to Giants
The hiring of Kafka is good news for Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, who is now surrounded by the coaches who developed Mahomes and Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
Kafka is a former NFL quarterback who played on the Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings, among other teams. Working with the Chiefs since 2017, Kafka is the one who has helped the Chiefs offense flourish under their prolific signal-caller.
The Chiefs have valued Kafka and his role in developing Mahomes greatly, evidenced by their decision to block him from being poached in the past. However, the Chiefs decided to let him be considered for a role with the Giants.
Mahomes credits Kafka with his development and success.
“He came in at the same time as I came into this locker room,” Mahomes said. “Even before he came in as quarterbacks coach, he already had a big imprint on what I did in developing me to be the player that I am. He continues that. He stays on me.”
Although Kafka may be ready to move on, his expertise is needed after Mahomes and the Chiefs lost the AFC Championship to the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite Mahomes’ athleticism and mobility out of the pocket, the powerful Chiefs quarterback often tries to make passes on unnecessarily broken plays and aborts the pocket unnecessarily.
Mahomes needs to smooth his fundamentals and work on his in-pocket plays and reads this offseason, and Kafka would have been an important key to that development. Without him, the Chiefs will need a strong replacement to help Mahomes become and even more elite quarterback.