92 Facts About Mike Kafka

Michael John Kafka was born on July 25,1987 and is an American professional football coach and former quarterback who is the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for the New York Giants of the National Football League.

Mike Kafka was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft, and spent six seasons in the NFL as a journeyman quarterback.

Mike Kafka became the quarterbacks coach for the Chiefs in 2018, and Patrick Mahomes, the starting quarterback for the Chiefs, earned the NFL Most Valuable Player award that season.

Mike Kafka helped the team win Super Bowl LIV the following season.

Mike Kafka was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Mike Kafka set Northwestern and Outback Bowl records with 532 passing yards and an Outback Bowl record with five interceptions.

Mike Kafka was mainly the third-string quarterback again in 2011 behind Vick and Vince Young, but saw some playing time in two games early in the season, both of which resulted in losses.

Mike Kafka was expected to be the backup quarterback behind Vick in 2012 but a broken hand caused him to miss time in the preseason and was ultimately released in favor of rookie Nick Foles and veteran Trent Edwards.

Mike Kafka spent time on offseason rosters with the New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013, on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' practice squad in 2014, on the preseason roster with the Minnesota Vikings in 2015, and on the practice squad for the Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals in 2015.

Mike Kafka became a graduate assistant with the Northwestern football team in 2016, and was hired by the Chiefs as an offensive quality control coach in 2017.

Mike Kafka was promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2018, and helped the team win the Super Bowl during the 2019 season, his first as a player or coach.

Mike Kafka was given an additional title of passing game coordinator in 2020.

Mike Kafka added the title of assistant head coach with the Giants in 2024.

Mike Kafka was born on July 25,1987, in Chicago, Illinois, to Michael and Sandra Mike Kafka.

Mike Kafka attended St Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago, where he played football and baseball.

Mike Kafka played safety as a freshman, but moved to quarterback during his sophomore year.

Mike Kafka made the school's Silver Honor Roll all four years of high school and was an Academic All-State.

Mike Kafka was an All-area selection by Tom Lemming's Prep Football Report and was an honorable mention all-state selection.

Mike Kafka was named Team Offensive MVP and Catholic Metro Blue Offensive MVP.

Mike Kafka was an honorable mention all-area honoree by Chicago Sun-Times and Daily Southtown.

Mike Kafka received offers from Florida Atlantic University, the University of Pittsburgh and Stanford University.

Mike Kafka's first touchdown was a 19-yard pass to running back Tyrell Sutton.

Days before Northwestern faced Nevada in the fourth game of the season, head coach Pat Fitzgerald confirmed that Mike Kafka would remain the starter despite his poor prior performances.

Mike Kafka suffered a hamstring injury during the game, which kept him out of the next three games of the season.

Mike Kafka began the game by completing his first eight throws, which included a 36-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Ebert.

Mike Kafka was named the team's offensive player of the week after that game, along with being named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

Mike Kafka was named the team's offensive big playmaker for the game.

Mike Kafka was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list, along with 19 other players nationally, with two others in the Big Ten Conference.

Mike Kafka ran for a three-yard touchdown and threw three touchdown passes along with an interception.

Mike Kafka caught a receiving touchdown when he tossed a lateral to Andrew Brewer who threw it back to Kafka for a 24-yard touchdown.

Mike Kafka became the first Big Ten Conference player to score at least one passing, receiving and rushing touchdown in a game since Zack Mills from Penn State accomplished it on September 4,2004, against Akron.

Mike Kafka finished the game with 35 completions on 42 attempts.

Mike Kafka took four sacks and during a desperation drive to win the game, fumbled the football, which helped end the game and give the Golden Gophers the win.

Mike Kafka threw for 300 or more yards for the fourth time that season.

Mike Kafka was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Wisconsin.

Obviously, there are a lot of great players in this league, a lot of talent in this league, but at the end of the day, I think Mike Kafka is not only our MVP, but an All-Big Ten quarterback and the MVP of the conference.

Mike Kafka ranked third in the Big Ten Conference in passing yards with 241.5 passing yards per game and he ranked second in total offense.

Mike Kafka finished the season tied for first in the Big Ten in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with seven.

Mike Kafka's 414 pass attempts ranked third in the Big Ten and eighth among all quarterbacks nationally.

Mike Kafka was named second-team All-Big Ten following the 2009 season.

Mike Kafka finished fourth in the Chicago Tribune's Silver Football voting, given out to the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player, behind Brandon Graham, Daryll Clark and John Clay.

Mike Kafka set Northwestern and Outback Bowl records with 532 passing yards, a career-high.

Mike Kafka set an Outback Bowl record with five interceptions.

Mike Kafka tied the Outback Bowl record with four touchdown passes.

Mike Kafka was named Northwestern's Most Valuable Player on offense following the season.

Mike Kafka was seventh nationally in completions, 16th in passing yards and 12th in total offensive yards.

Mike Kafka was rated as the eleventh-best quarterback in the draft.

Mike Kafka was invited to the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, which started on February 24, along with teammates Corey Wootton and Sherrick McManis.

Priority hired former Chicago Bears quarterback Erik Kramer and a trainer in Phoenix, Arizona, to help Mike Kafka prepare for the NFL Scouting Combine.

Mike Kafka had some of the best measurements in the vertical jump, broad jump, 60-yard shuttle, and three-cone drill among all quarterbacks.

Mike Kafka passed to his former teammates Brewer, Markshausen, and Brendan Mitchell during the workout.

Mike Kafka was reportedly not as accurate on the second Pro Day as he was on the first, but still "very accurate".

Mike Kafka worked out for the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots, and Oakland Raiders prior to the draft.

Mike Kafka was a month-and-a-half ago, but he's on the rise.

Mike Kafka was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round in the 2010 NFL draft.

Mike Kafka was the fifth quarterback taken in the draft, behind Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy.

Mike Kafka was expected to be the team's third-string quarterback behind Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick.

In week two Mike Kafka was the backup to Vick against the Detroit Lions after Kolb suffered a concussion in week one against the Green Bay Packers.

In Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers, week six against the Atlanta Falcons and week seven against the Tennessee Titans, Mike Kafka was the backup to Kolb after Vick, who took over as the starting quarterback for the remainder of the season, suffered a rib injury in Week 4 against the Washington Redskins.

Mike Kafka played in garbage time in the next preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, handing the ball off twice and kneeling down twice.

Mike Kafka had the wind knocked out of him on a sack, but was able to play the rest of the game despite a rib contusion.

Mike Kafka was active as the backup to Vick in both games, but was forced to play in the second game when Vick suffered a concussion in the second half.

Mike Kafka was declared inactive for week 5, but returned as active for weeks 6 and 8.

Mike Kafka was inactive again for weeks 9 and 10, before he was activated for the rest of the season's games.

Mike Kafka saw playing action in two of the final games of the season with no pass attempts.

Mike Kafka was considered the favorite to win the backup job during training camp.

Mike Kafka was released during final roster cuts with Tanney on August 30,2014, but was re-signed to the team's practice squad on August 31.

Mike Kafka was active but did not play in the first three weeks he was on the active roster.

Mike Kafka later said he told McCown he needed to stay on the active roster for week 8 in order to qualify for the NFL's pension program, and McCown facilitated his stay for one more week with head coach Lovie Smith.

Mike Kafka was invited to work out at the first NFL veteran combine on March 22,2015.

Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network said that he has "never seen [Mike Kafka] throw it as well as he did on the field" and that he expected Mike Kafka to sign with a team following his workout.

Mike Kafka was expected to compete with rookie undrafted signee Taylor Heinicke for the third quarterback job behind starter Teddy Bridgewater and backup Shaun Hill.

Mike Kafka threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end MyCole Pruitt, before he was substituted for Heinicke in the third quarter.

Mike Kafka did not play in the team's second preseason game, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he was the fourth quarterback to play in the third game against the Oakland Raiders.

Mike Kafka played one drive in the fourth preseason game, throwing an incomplete pass against the Dallas Cowboys, before suffering a hamstring strain.

On March 29,2016, Mike Kafka was hired as an offensive graduate assistant at Northwestern University.

Mike Kafka was promoted to quarterbacks coach on January 26,2018.

Mike Kafka missed the team's week 16 game in 2021 against the Pittsburgh Steelers due to COVID-19 protocols.

Mike Kafka was hired by the New York Giants on February 11,2022, to be their offensive coordinator under newly hired head coach Brian Daboll.

Mike Kafka called the offensive plays for the team during the preseason and training camp.

On September 5,2022, it was announced that Mike Kafka would remain the play-caller for the regular season after a strong preseason.

Mike Kafka interviewed with the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, and Indianapolis Colts for their head coach positions on January 22,2023; the Arizona Cardinals interviewed him for their head coach job on January 31.

Mike Kafka had a virtual interview with the Tennessee Titans for their head coach job on January 12,2024.

Mike Kafka interviewed for the Seattle Seahawks head coaching position as well, but was blocked by the Giants from interviewing for the Seahawks' offensive coordinator position.

Mike Kafka was given an additional title of assistant head coach by the Giants on February 7,2024; however, he was removed from play-calling duties by the team for the 2024 season.

Mike Kafka interviewed virtually with the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints for their head coaching positions on January 9,2025, and had an in-person interview with the Saints on January 25.

Mike Kafka was selected as a head coach for the 2025 Senior Bowl on February 1,2025.

Mike Kafka's brother, Jason, was a pitcher for the independent Windy City ThunderBolts and attended St Rita of Cascia High School.

Mike Kafka is married to his wife, Allison, and they have a daughter.

Mike Kafka worked as an instructor at former Northwestern teammate Brett Basanez's prep quarterback development camps in Woodbury, Minnesota and Minnetonka, Minnesota, in mid-2011.

Mike Kafka worked at a Pop Warner Football passing camp, Three5Seven, with former Northwestern teammate Chris Malleo in July 2011.

On November 13,2014, Mike Kafka started a Kickstarter campaign for his product, the Roo Inferno, a type of hand warmer for both athletes and outdoor enthusiasts.