Guide to the NY Giants head coaching search as it stands now

4. Don Martindale, Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator

Interviewed: 1/4/20

Yet another cog in the Andy Reid coaching tree, Martindale has led an already historically good defense that already ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense in the past two years before he took over as defensive coordinator.

To give Martindale a bit more credit, he has taken the Ravens D to the top 5 this year and in 2018 in scoring defense because of his aggressive blitzing tendencies that saw the Ravens blitz 39.6% of the time in 2018 and 54.9% of the time in 2019. Martindale has said it would take “a dream job,” to lure him away from the Baltimore Ravens but since he is interviewing, we will have to assume he has some interest. The NY Giants job is not anything to sniff at, even though it is not what it was when Tom Coughlin was fired in 2015.

Before becoming the Ravens defensive coordinator, the 56-year-old Martindale had worked as linebackers coach in the NFL since 2004, with stops in Oakland and Denver, with a short one year stint as the Broncos defensive coordinator.

As for what I think, Martindale fits the bill for what the Giants want, but he does not seem like an exciting hire. The Giants need a coach that will have the energy to stay throughout Daniel Jones’ tenure as Giants quarterback and help teach him to lead.

What does make Martindale an interesting candidate is the fact he wants to bring 30-year-old LSU passing game coordinator Joe Brady to the NFL as his offensive coordinator. Brady has had a huge amount of success with Joe Burrow as he has thrown for the 2nd most passing yardage in FBS history on LSU’s current run for the national title.

I consider Martindale a good candidate considering his plan and his history, but the Giants should not hire him unless they really think Joe Brady will make a massive difference on their staff.