Wink Martindale is resigning as the Giants‘ defensive coordinator to pursue head coach and defensive coordinator opportunities elsewhere, a source first told the Daily News on Monday.
Martindale’s defense tied for the NFL lead in takeaways (31) as the lone bright spot during an otherwise dismal season for a 6-11 team that averaged only 15.6 points per game. Middle linebacker Bobby Okereke raved about Martindale on Sunday as a “legendary coach.”
But the tension and internal dynamic between Brian Daboll and Martindale boiled over into the public eye prior to the Giants’ bye week and foreshadowed change once the season ended.
His resignation capped a slew of coaching changes and firings on a busy Black Monday for co-owner John Mara, GM Joe Schoen, Daboll and their reeling franchise.
Prior to losing their defensive coordinator, the Giants already had fired special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, offensive line coach Bobby Johnson, outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins and his brother, defensive assistant Kevin Wilkins on Monday.
Running backs coach Jeff Nixon (Syracuse) and strength coach Craig Fitzgerald (Florida) had left on their own in the past few days, too.
Martindale, 60, should be in high demand on the league’s coaching circuit after a decade with the Baltimore Ravens and two seasons with the Giants.
His 2022 defense’s strong third-down and red-zone work helped pace the Giants’ 6-1 start and return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
During that stretch, Martindale’s Giants defense handed Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (20-1) his only career loss as a starter to an NFC opponent with two fourth-quarter takeaways in a 24-20 win. Then in the postseason, his Giants defense held Vikings star receiver Justin Jefferson to 47 yards and no touchdowns in the franchise’s first playoff win since Jan. 2012.
This year, Martindale’s Giants defense scored three touchdowns on interception returns (Jason Pinnock, Isaiah Simmons, Adoree Jackson) and propped up a late-season, three-game winning streak with 11 forced turnovers in those victories over Washington, New England and Green Bay.
His aggressive and innovative scheme prompted Rams head coach Sean McVay to proclaim the amount of “respect” he has for Martindale multiple times after the Giants’ narrow Week 17 loss to Los Angeles at MetLife Stadium.
But in the wake of Martindale resigning, the pressure is ratcheting up on Schoen and Daboll after a 6-11 season caused by rampant operational issues that trace back to the GM and head coach.
“It starts with me,” Schoen said Monday morning. “I’ve got to do a better job throughout the entire organization. We’re a six-win team. You are what your record says you are. And I’ve got to do a better job.”
Daboll had claimed Monday morning that his “expectation” was for both offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Martindale to be back in 2024, but Daboll hadn’t spoken to either coordinator before making that statement. Then the Giants fired the Wilkins brothers, whom Martindale had brought to New York from the Baltimore Ravens last year.
Drew Wilkins in particular was Martindale’s right hand running the Giants’ defense. Firing him sent a clear message. Daboll also noted “Wink talks about this as a destination place and things like that,” seemingly in an attempt to put the onus on Martindale and not the team if he left.
Ultimately, however, Daboll’s passive-aggressive public posturing only appeared intended to accelerate a separation. And nothing that happened Monday was going to change the day’s outcome.
The groundwork was laid for it all year, and it does not reflect well on the men in charge.
Johnson, who followed Daboll to the Giants from the Buffalo Bills in 2022, was canned after the Giants’ 2023 offensive line allowed 85 sacks, the second-most in NFL history.
But the sacks were also due to Schoen’s personnel mistakes up front and Daboll’s inability to run an offense that protects the quarterback. No other team allowed more than 65 sacks this year.
It also didn’t help that undrafted rookie Tommy DeVito led the league in sack percentage (15.5%) for quarterbacks with more than 33 drop-backs this year. That was often due to DeVito holding onto the ball for too long.
McGaughey, meanwhile, was fired after spending the past six seasons with the Giants across three coaching staffs under Pat Shurmur, Joe Judge and Daboll.
That unit made some costly mistakes this season, starting with a blocked field goal in Week 1. The Dallas Cowboys returned it for a touchdown, and left tackle Andrew Thomas got injured on the play.
But McGaughey also created an innovative and effective punt game with Jamie Gillan. Gunner Nick McCloud challenged for a Pro Bowl spot as a special teamer. And McGaughey’s hands were tied in a lot of ways by things out of his control.
Schoen forced running back Eric Gray into a punt return role he couldn’t handle early in the season, a mistake the GM took blame for publicly. And the GM made veteran Parris Campbell a healthy scratch for the final five games, even though Campbell had injected life into the Giants’ stagnant kick return unit.
Deactivating Campbell for the final five games cost him $500,000, or $100K per game in an active roster bonus incentive.
The Giants did that despite McGaughey raving about Campbell’s value. Down the stretch, the team actually stopped returning kicks altogether. And McGaughey said that was because the Giants’ analytics team — an arm of the front office and coaching staff — told him so.
“It’s all kind of based upon analytics,” he said of any kicks within a certain range of the goal line.
The Giants will wake up on Tuesday morning with much bigger problems than figuring out where to place blame for isolated mistakes, however.
They now have a crisis on their hands.
Firing four coaches on Monday looked bad. Losing a revered coach like Martindale to resignation made the organization look much worse.
And while Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch remain publicly silent, it seems likely that whatever actions they now intend to take to fix this, it’s too late.
