Ranking reported Giants coaching candidates by category: Head coaches, coordinators and more
Ranking New York's coaching candidates by tiers
By
Jared Dubin
•
5 min read
We're just a few days away from the end of the 2025 NFL regular season, which means we're just a few days away from the start of the 2026 NFL coaching carousel. We don't yet know exactly how many jobs will become available when all is said and done, but we do know that two are already open: those of the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants.
On Friday, ESPN reported a wide-ranging list of candidates who are expected to either get interviews or be candidates for the Giants job. Working off the list reported by ESPN, we're going to separate the candidates into tiers and then rank them within said tiers.
Head coaches
- Browns HC Kevin Stefanski
- Broncos DC Vance Joseph
- Former Cowboys and Packers HC Mike McCarthy
- Former Raiders HC Antonio Pierce
- Giants Interim HC Mike Kafka
If Stefanski becomes available, he'd be an excellent fit as an offensive-minded head coach who has shown he can scheme quarterbacks into success. The Browns are a disaster, but Stefanski himself is widely respected as a play-caller, and he's still young enough (he'll be 44 in May) that he can be considered up-and-coming despite having already been a head coach for six years.
McCarthy would bring stability to what has been an unstable franchise. He's won in both Dallas and Green Bay, though he had the benefit of coaching Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers in those stops. He helped both of those players reach the peak of their talents, though, and could potentially do the same for Jaxson Dart.
Joseph got his first head-coaching opportunity back in 2017 and 2018, going 11-21 with the Broncos. But his defenses have been some of the best and most creative in the league since he went back to being a coordinator. He's earned another shot at a top job, and if he could bring in a strong offensive coordinator, he'd be a good fit for New York.
Pierce is a former Giants linebacker and Super Bowl champion. His lone season as the full-time head coach of the Raiders was pretty disastrous, though, and it's not like he's had an opportunity to prove himself elsewhere like Joseph has.
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The Kafka era has not exactly been a smashing success since he started filling in for the deposed Brian Daboll. The Giants are 1-5 and they haven't lit the world on fire offensively. Kafka was a hot coordinator candidate during his time as the quarterbacks coach for the Chiefs but the shine might be off when it comes to his head-coaching prospects. He's presumably on the interview list because he's the internal candidate, but it's hard to see the Giants wanting to hold over anything from the Daboll era.
Current coordinators
Minter's Chargers defense is one of the best in the league. He has the pedigree of working under both John and Jim Harbaugh and is considered one of the top defensive minds in the league. He's shown that he can coach in both college and the NFL, which could help him with New York's young roster.
Hafley has ties to both New Jersey (he was born and raised in Bergen County, which is also home to East Rutherford) and Boston College, which helps out with the Giants, because John Mara also went there and has a history of valuing that sort of thing. His Packers defense was also one of the best in the NFL when healthy this season.
Shula is considered a rising star and has the family pedigree of being Don Shula's grandson and Dave Shula's son. He also has the all-important ties to Sean McVay, which we've seen over the last decade or so is very important when it comes to getting jobs in the NFL. It doesn't hurt that he's kept the Rams defense afloat the last two years post-Aaron Donald.
They would all be considered a hire in the mold of Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald as young defensive mind who could potentially help the Giants and their elite pass rush stop some of the best and most explosive offenses in the NFL. You could probably put them in any order you want on this list, but they'll all have to show that they have a plan for how to build the offense around Dart.
Anarumo also has New York ties as he was born and raised and went to college in Staten Island. He's quite a bit older and more experienced than the other defensive coordinators on this list, but that age (he'll be 60 at the start of next season) might make him a bit less desirable. Coaches don't usually get their first head-coaching chance that late in their careers.
Other coaches
- Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak
- Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury
- Vikings QB Coach Josh McCown
- Jaguars OC Grant Udinski
- Texans DC Matt Burke
- Panthers DC Ejiro Evero
This is the group of coaches considered to have an "outside chance" at being the Giants' next coach, according to ESPN.
Kubiak is part of the McShanahan tree, which is always desirable in interviews, and he's shown during his time as a coordinator that he can put players in position to succeed -- see Sam Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Kingsbury's offense seems like a pretty good fit for Jaxson Dart's skill set, given the success he had with Jayden Daniels during Daniels' rookie season in Washington.
McCown and Udinski are considered rising stars on the offensive side of the ball because of their work with quarterbacks. McCown was there for Darnold's excellent 2024 season in Minnesota, as was Udinski, who has also had a hand (along with Liam Coen, obviously) in Trevor Lawrence's breakthrough year.
Burke calls the defensive plays for Houston's elite defense despite DeMeco Ryans being the head coach. He also has ties to BC, having been a graduate assistant there early in his coaching career. Evero is respected despite Carolina's defense being up and down during his tenure but it seems like other defensive minds are more toward the forefront of searches this offseason.
