I'm a personal believer that young quarterbacks need an offensive-minded head coach or, at the very least, need a defensive-minded head coach who will nail the offensive coordinator hire. For example, I love DeMeco Ryans, but it's also clear that having Bobby Slowik as the OC set C.J. Stroud's second-year development back.
This isn't to say I'm dismissing head coaches who come from the defensive side of the ball. If you aren't focused on quarterback development, then just hire the best guy for the job, whoever that is.
Giants found their quarterback, but the next hire is critical
The New York Giants have a young quarterback in Jaxson Dart as well as a young receiver, running back and tight end at the moment, so this is a case where I'd really like to see them hire an offensive guy who can help nurture those players. Like...maybe Vance Joseph would be a great head coaching candidate in New York, but he'd be accompanied by the fact that if his offensive coordinator turned Dart into a monster next season, that offensive coordinator might get poached for a different head coaching opening. The Giants would then have to hope the next coordinator hire could continue Dart's development.
Not counting current NFL head coaches who might be fired, this ESPN article mentions 14 names who could be in play for the Giants. Let's roughly rank those names, starting with a rather large group of coaches who don't really make sense if the goal is developing Dart. The defensive names will be in that section, ranked in a rough order that I didn't spend quite as much time thinking about.
Best of the rest: Defense-first coaches who could help Giants, but not Dart
Candidates: Antonio Pierce, Matt Burke, Jeff Hafley, Ejiro Evero, Chris Shula, Lou Anarumo, Jesse Minter, Vance Joseph
Ranked roughly from worst option to best, here's a very quick thought on each of these candidates:
- Pierce's only NFL experience is three seasons with the Raiders, which began with him as the linebackers coach in 2022 and ended with him going 4-13 as the Raiders head coach in 2024. I'd like to see him build his way back as an assistant first before giving him a head coaching position.
- Burke has led a really good Texans defense this season, but I'm honestly just not sure how much of that is on Burke and how much to just give the credit to Ryans.
- Hafley has done well in two seasons as the Packers defensive coordinator, but it's hard to ignore that he had a fairly bad stint as the head coach at Boston College.
- Evero has been discussed as a future NFL head coach due to his leadership qualities, but Carolina's on-field performance on defense has been all over the place in his three seasons as defensive coordinator.
- Shula has that whole family legacy thing going on, but he also has just two seasons as a defensive coordinator under his belt. For his sake, I'd hope that he'd get his first head coaching shot in a more structured environment.
- Minter has done an incredible job in two seasons as the Chargers' defensive coordinator and deserves a chance to be an NFL head coach. I'm not sure the Giants are the best fit for him, but he could work with the right offensive coordinator.
- Anarumo has interviewed with the Giants before and is local to the area. He's spent eight seasons as an NFL defensive coordinator between three different teams and while the actual numbers haven't always been great, his extensive experience might help him easily translate into a head coach role.
Vance Joseph deserves a chance, just not in New York
Joseph is, IMO, the clear winner of this group. Yes, his two-year stint as the Broncos head coach was bad, but his starting quarterbacks over that span were Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, Paxton Lynch and Case Keenum. Joseph went 6-10 with Keenum starting 16 games in 2018, which feels like a win. After leaving Denver, he had a successful tenure as the Cardinals' defensive coordinator before returning to Denver as the defensive coordinator under Sean Payton. He deserves another shot as a head coach. He isn't ranked here simply because my goal is to find someone who can develop Dart, but he'd be a top-three candidate overall.
6. Josh McCown
The Texans interviewed Josh McCown twice for head coaching positions despite a lack of coaching experience. Now that he does have experience as a coach, maybe a team other than Houston will interview him for the job?
Still, McCown has never even been an offensive coordinator in the NFL. Trusting him to make the jump to head coach with a young quarterback has disaster written all over it. That's not to say McCown can't wind up with the Giants this offseason, but I'd much rather see him hired as an offensive coordinator for someone like Joseph or Anarumo than as a head coach in his own right. Of course, that might start the cycle of 'Dart is set back by having three offensive coordinators in three years' if McCown managed to parlay that into a head coaching opportunity elsewhere in 2027.
5. Grant Udinski
ESPN also mentioned Udinski as a young gun with an outside shot. I don't really think there's much chance that happens considering how good some of the other options are, but he does make a bit more sense than McCown does.
Udinski is in his first season as the Jaguars offensive coordinator and the results are strong, but how much of that is simply because Liam Coen is the one really making the decisions on the offensive side of the ball?
I'm also not sure you want to hire a 30-year-old to be your head coach when you're a team that hasn't proven it can support young coaches. I think I trust this just a bit more than McCown simply because we've seen Udinski in a larger role and he's been more successful in 2025, but there's probably a bit too much risk here.
4. Kliff Kingsbury
The big question here: has Kliff Kingsbury improved since his last head coaching job?
Kingsbury's four seasons at the helm in Arizona featured a number of highs and lows, but the offense fell apart in Kingsbury's final season. After taking 2023 off, he was hired as Washington's offensive coordinator, and the results have also been fairly mixed. Injuries were an issue this season, and Kingsbury has done with best with Jayden Daniels sidelined.
This is probably a positive for Dart, but it's not a slam-dunk positive like some of the other options. There's definitely a chance that Kingsbury to New York goes wrong.
3. Mike Kafka
Hey, Dart's been pretty good as a rookie, especially since the Giants fired Brian Daboll. And I talked about continuity in the intro, so promoting the current interim coach would provide some continuity. Maybe New York should consider this option?
Maybe! But I also think this is a prime example of where there can be a disconnect between what's best for the quarterback and what's best for the team. With Kafka retained, Dart would get to continue improving in the same offensive system, but the perception around the league on this move would likely be fairly low. Would free agents be less interested in joining the Kafka Giants?
2. Mike McCarthy
Mike McCarthy is the boring option, but sometimes it's easier — and better — to go with the boring option.
What McCarthy would bring to the Giants would be stability and experience. He's been a head coach in the NFL for 18 seasons, finishing under .500 just five times over that span. His offenses have finished in the top 10 in passing yards in all but seven of his seasons.
Sure, McCarthy was blessed with Aaron Rodgers and later Dak Prescott as his quarterback, which obviously factors into that. Still, this is a man who understands NFL offenses and who would be a fountain of knowledge for Dart.
1. Klint Kubiak
My top option for the Giants here is Klint Kubiak, who has done great work with the Seahawks this season.
Kubiak has only served as an NFL offensive coordinator for three seasons — all with different teams — but he's been around the league virtually his whole life, and the only offense he commanded that wasn't good was the 2024 Saints, which you can't really hold against him.
I just think that what Kubiak has accomplished in Seattle this season is proof that he's inherited his father's coaching ability. Nepotism can be an issue, but this is a case where making the nepo hire is probably the best thing for the Giants and for Dart, who would land a young head coach with extensive experience who can help shape him into something great.