Brian Daboll, the newly-crowned NFL Associated Press Coach of the Year, will have the mastermind of the Giants’ defense back with him for a second season.
Wink Martindale, a finalist for the Colts’ head coach position, will be returning to Daboll and the Giants. Martindale has been informed he did not get the job in Indianapolis, a source confirmed.
Daboll now has to wait out the Cardinals’ head coach search, as Mike Kafka, the Giants’ first-year offensive coordinator, is a finalist. The Cardinals could have already hired Kafka if he is their top choice, leading to speculation that the Cardinals want to wait until after the Super Bowl to include more candidates. Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen could be a target, and the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, is also highly-regarded.
It is a blow to Martindale, 59, who has made no secret of his desire to take the next step and run a team of his own. He interviewed for the vacant Giants’ head coach position in 2020, a job that eventually went to Joe Judge. Martindale interviewed twice with the Colts during this hiring cycle.
This is a boon to the Giants, though. Martindale brought his blitz-happy formula to the Giants that he cultivated with the Ravens and established an aggressive identity with his new team. The Giants did not rank high in any major defensive category – 25th in yards allowed, 14th in pass defense, 27th in run defense and 18th in points allowed at 21.8 per game – but Martindale’s unit did keep the Giants competitive in most games despite enduring injury issues on the backend and issues at inside linebacker.
Martindale was extremely popular with his players, going out of his way to accentuate strengths and rarely going public with deficiencies.
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