Wink Martindale has helped the New York Giants turn things around after five straight losing seasons, and his work has caught the attention of at least one rival team.
The Indianapolis Colts have requested permission to interview Martindale for their vacant head coach job, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports. That is the first known interview request that Martindale has received.
Martindale, 59, has been an assistant coach in the NFL since 2004. He worked for the Baltimore Ravens for 10 seasons from 2012 through 2021. He was John Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator for the last three of those before joining Brian Daboll with the Giants.
The Giants had a middle-of-the-pack defense during the regular season. They allowed 21.8 points per game, which ranked 16th in the NFL.
New York’s defense did not exactly turn in a stellar performance in Sunday’s 31-24 wild-card win over the Minnesota Vikings, either. Kirk Cousins went 31/39 for 273 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. The Giants did make a huge stop when they needed it, though they can mostly thank Cousins for that.
The Colts fired Frank Reich during the season and named Jeff Saturday their interim head coach. Martindale has no previous NFL head coaching experience, but that is not stopping Indy from keeping Saturday in the mix.
