The Tennessee Titans completed an interview with New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka on Friday, their second candidate interview to find a replacement for Mike Vrabel, who was fired Tuesday.

The Titans also have completed an interview with Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. They reportedly have requested interviews with as many as nine candidates, though many will not be available to speak to the Titans for another couple of days. All interviews are virtual until Jan. 22, when in-person talks are allowed.

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Get to know Mike Kafka

Kafka was a journeyman quarterback who played for or landed on the practice squads of seven NFL franchises from 2010 to 2015, including a brief stint with the Titans toward the end of his career. He rose through the coaching ranks with the Kansas City Chiefs, first as an offensive quality control coach in 2017 before advancing to quarterbacks coach in 2018 and adding passing game coordinator to his title in 2020.

Kafka left Kansas City for New York in 2022, joining forces with head coach Brian Daboll to help resurrect a stale Giants’ offense and lead the unit to the playoffs in Year 1. The 2022 Giants had the NFL’s No. 4 rushing attack and No. 7 red zone offense as quarterback Daniel Jones set career highs in nearly every significant passing stat.

The Giants regressed in 2023, owing to a litany of reasons, including a season-ending injury for Jones and one of the league’s worst offensive lines. These issues led to the team finishing 29th in the NFL in total offense and 30th in scoring.

The Titans are reportedly the only NFL team that requested an interview with Kafka. The 36-year-old is one of the youngest available candidates in the current coaching pool and would be the youngest head coach in the NFL if hired.

About the Tennessee Titans open head coach job

Per NFL rules, the Titans may conduct only virtual interviews with all coaching candidates employed by another organization until the end of the second round of the NFL playoffs. The Titans are free to interview at any time a candidate not currently employed by an NFL organization and have been able to conduct virtual interviews with employees of teams that missed the postseason since three days after the completion of the regular season.

The Titans will be allowed to conduct virtual interviews with coaches on teams that made the playoffs three days after their first playoff game ends.

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This is the Titans' first coaching search in six years. Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk dismissed Vrabel on Tuesday, saying she wanted the franchise to improve its collaboration and alignment between ownership, the front office and the coaching staff.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans interview Giants OC Mike Kafka for head coach opening