By CJ Carlson
The New York Giants were reportedly hoping to keep both head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale in the organization for another season to try and get things right. Unfortunately, a few hours after that information came out, conflicting reports stated that Martindale was resigning from his position and did so after a “blowout” with Daboll.
Now, it wasn’t just a random report that stated Martindale was expected to stay with the Giants for another year. That came straight from Daboll himself, just hours earlier. Other positional coaches knew they were on the hot seat, and were subsequently fired afterwards, though Wink was supposedly safe alongside Daboll. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan said after Martindale was going to resign that it was mostly due to a rocky relationship with Daboll himself.
Here’s the kicker, Martindale is still under contract for one more season. That means the Giants technically have the rights to him for another season, and it doesn’t allow him to leave for another team as easily as any other departed coach would. This is incredibly important because there’s absolutely going to be interest in hiring Martindale. He might not have head coaching interest, though he certainly has defensive coordinator interest for teams that need help on that side of the ball. The Giants know that and won’t let him just walk away for nothing and join a contender like that.
The New York Giants Would Have The Control
The example that kept getting brought up is the Philadelphia Eagles. The Giants know that Philadelphia has had troubles on that side of the ball, and it could be the biggest reason for a potential loss in the postseason soon. However, they don’t want Martindale to just step away from New York, join the Eagles, and lead them to a Super Bowl off of a defensive resurgence. They don’t want that to happen in this upcoming season either. If the Giants fired him, then we would have a different conversation, but New York wants to keep him.
Martindale should be able to link up with another team ahead of next season, and the only way that this goes sideways is if the rumors were true regarding the team’s relationship with him. At some point, you’d have to imagine that they’d mutually find a new location for his services, which is likely not in their own division like the Eagles are. Perhaps it might not even be in the NFC conference at all. Only time will tell if that ends up being the case, although we could be a long way from that. A follow up report claimed that Martindale hasn’t officially filed his resignation yet, possibly because he knows that the Giants won’t accept it and let him meet with anybody right now. This process feels very far from over.