Despite Giants’ struggles, young assistant coaches remain highly-regarded

The New York Giants are 2-8, and the seats of GM Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll are turned up to varying degrees of warmth depending on who you ask. Young assistant coaches for the Giants, though, appear to remain held in high esteem around the NFL.

Two, in fact, are on NFL insider Tom Pelissero’s list of coaches to watch in the 2025 hiring cycle.

DC Shane Bowen

(Age 37)

Pelissero writes:

A former Georgia Tech linebacker whose playing career ended early because of injury, Bowen is now in his ninth season as an NFL coach and fourth as a defensive play-caller, having served as the Titans’ DC for three years before taking the same job with the Giants this past offseason. While New York has stumbled to a 2-8 start and stopping the run has been a problem, one of the NFL’s youngest defenses has also been one of its most effective in key categories such as sacks per pass attempt (ranking first at 13.1%), goal-to-go efficiency (fourth, 57.9%), opponent red-zone TD percentage (tied for fifth, 46.4%) and opponent third-down percentage (sixth, 34.1%). And Bowen is well regarded within the league.

Valentine’s View: This one surprises me a bit. There was some snickering when the Giants hired Bowen, because he did not appear to be the team’s first choice. Bowen learned at the foot of Mike Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans, but his defense with the Giants has been a mixed bag.

The run defense, a big part of what he was hired to fix, has been atrocious. The Giants are getting sacks, but those sacks are not leading to much — sometimes not even punts. The Giants have not intercepted a pass in nine games.

OC Mike Kafka

(Age 37)

A former NFL quarterback who was drafted by Andy Reid’s Eagles in 2010, Kafka possesses innate leadership traits and earned a strong reputation as a QB tutor after reuniting with Reid in Kansas City as a quality control coach in 2017. The Giants’ surprise success in 2022 helped propel Kafka’s head-coaching candidacy; he has interviewed for six jobs over the past two cycles and gotten second interviews for three of them (with the Cardinals, Seahawks and Texans). Brian Daboll has taken more ownership of an offense that continues to scuffle, but Kafka’s strong performance on the interview circuit figures to keep him in the mix.

Valentine’s View: Kafka still has the offensive coordinator title with the Giants, but he has really been relegated to obscurity. He isn’t doing a whole lot except biding his time and waiting for an opportunity to get away from Daboll after the season, although he has been far too smart to say anything of the sort.

Daboll took the offense away from Kafka this season, but the fact that it hasn’t been any better might actually help Kafka’s case when he looks for a new (as a coordinator or head coach at the NFL or collegiate level) this offseason.

Kafka has impressed on the interview circuit. He also impressed players who worked under him last offseason when he was a head coach in the East-West Shrine Game.

Others

Pelissero mentioned outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen (40), tight ends coach Tim Kelly (38), quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney (38), and safeties coach coach Michael Treier (34) as coaches who could continue to rise through the ranks in the coming years.