Giants to hire Don 'Wink' Martindale as new defensive coordinator, source confirms
Don Martindale during pre-game warm-ups before the Ravens played against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021, in Baltimore Credit: AP/Terrance Williams
LOS ANGELES — The Giants are making one of their biggest defensive free-agency moves of the offseason, and it doesn’t even involve a player.
Don "Wink" Martindale, who was fired by the Baltimore Ravens after four years as their defensive coordinator and 10 years with the organization, is going to be the Giants’ new defensive coordinator, a source confirmed.
The 58-year-old is working out the details of his contract with the team. ESPN first reported the agreement in principle, but Martindale has been on the Giants’ radar for a long time. He was interviewed for the head coaching vacancy in 2020 that eventually went to Joe Judge and was said to be at the top of new head coach Brian Daboll’s list of candidates when he took over the Giants last month.
Martindale takes over for Patrick Graham, who the Giants thought would be returning for a third season but instead accepted the defensive coordinator job with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Daboll also interviewed Jim Schwartz, Sean Desai and Steve Wilks for the position.
Daboll will oversee the entire team, but Martindale gives the Giants a polished and proven defensive leader who can shape that side of the ball. Daboll’s background is on offense (although he did begin his career as a defensive assistant in the early 2000s), and having Martindale on the staff should allow him to focus more on the offense and possibly even be the offensive play-caller.
Martindale has traditionally run a 3-4 scheme that relies heavily on linebacker blitzing. The Giants have 3-4 personnel on their roster from the past regime but are very thin at linebacker. Their best player at that position is Blake Martinez, who is recovering from a torn ACL.
Martindale's Ravens defenses ranked No. 1 in 2018, No. 4 in 2019 and No. 7 in 2020. They were in the top three in points allowed in each of those seasons. In 2021, they fell to 25th, which led to the team parting ways with him. He immediately became a highly sought-after defensive coordinator in league circles, and the Giants were interested right away. Eventually Daboll decided to retain Graham, but when he left for the Raiders, Martindale was still available and back at the top of their list.
Judge returns to Pats. Joe Judge is going back from whence he came. The recently fired head coach of the Giants has been hired by the Patriots as an offensive assistant, returning to the team where he spent the first eight seasons of his NFL coaching career and broadening his purview from the special teams roles for which he was most known.
It’s unclear what Judge’s responsibilities will entail as the Patriots are still in the process of replacing offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who became the head coach of the Raiders. One reported candidate for that job is Adam Gase, which could pair two former New York head coaches on the same offensive staff for New England.
By focusing more on offense than special teams, Judge will be broadening his resume for future opportunities, including the possibility of another head coach job one day.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
