It’s been a tumultuous start to the 2024 offseason for the New York Giants as several members of the coaching staff have either left or been fired in early January.
To make matters worse, Big Blue has been coming up empty on recent interview requests for the offensive line coach and special teams coordinator positions. First, Bobby Skinner of the Talkin’ Giants podcast reported that “the Giants requested to interview [Atlanta] Falcons OL Coach Dwayne Ledford for the same position but the Falcons denied the request, per source.”
That news came in around 6 p.m. EST on January 10. A couple of hours later near 8 p.m. EST, NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo reported that the Giants got blocked again.
“The [Los Angeles] Chargers blocked the Giants’ request to interview special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken, sources say,” Garafolo informed. “So while LAC works toward finding its next head coach, they clearly still hope Ficken is a part of the next coaching staff.”
The Giants requested to interview Falcons OL Coach Dwayne Ledford for the same position but the Falcons denied the request, per source. pic.twitter.com/sWywfPt9Cb
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) January 10, 2024
For clarity, NFL organizations can still deny another team access to their coaching staff on lateral moves — leaving one franchise for the same position at another — so long as the employee is under contract. Even if said team is without a head coach, which the Falcons and Chargers currently are.
Pro Football Focus ranked Atlanta’s offensive line as the fourth best unit in the league at the end of the 2023 season, so it makes sense that they’d prefer to keep Ledford. Similarly, LAC housed PFF’s number one graded special teams unit this year.
In other words, the Giants swung big on these two interviews, but it’s not overly surprising that both were blocked.
Giants OC Mike Kafka Requested for Titans HC Interview
In other news, with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey already gone, the Giants could theoretically lose offensive counterpart Mike Kafka.
“The [Tennessee] Titans requested an interview with Giants [offensive coordinator] Mike Kafka for their head coaching job, per source,” NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero shared on January 10.
Kafka was a hot name on the market last coaching cycle, as Big Blue overperformed and won a playoff game. This season was a different story, being that the Giants’ offense ranked second to last in terms of its overall PFF grade.
Despite that, Kafka will at least get one head coaching interview in 2024 after three last January.
The Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts all passed on the Giants OC last winter. Will the Titans follow suit?
Giants Have Conducted 1 Coaching Interview So Far
The Giants have many vacancies on the coaching staff but as far as the public knows, only one potential candidate has interviewed in the early stages of the combined search.
“The Giants will interview [Las Vegas] Raiders OL coach Carmen Bricillo for the same role on Brian Daboll’s coaching staff, sources say,” Garafolo first relayed on January 9.
The NFL insider added that Vegas did indeed grant permission for Bricillo to interview while they conduct their GM and HC searches.
Noting: “Bricillo and Daboll both have [New England] Patriots ties, though they weren’t on Bill Belichick’s coaching staff at the same time. Bricillo served as the Pats’ OL coach before heading to Vegas with Josh McDaniels.”
The New York Post’s Paul Schwartz stated that Bricillo was “one of two assistants tasked with replacing legendary offensive line guru Dante Scarneccia after he retired following the 2019 season.”
From there, he joined the Raiders in 2022 as Garafolo said. 2023 was Bricillo’s 20th year of coaching experience according to his LVR bio, and his fifth at the NFL level.
The Raiders offensive line finished 10th this season on PFF.
