Giants talk DC job with Wink, Wilks
Former Ravens defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale interviewed in person for the Giants defensive coordinator vacancy on Sunday, a source told the Daily News.
Then the team interviewed former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks in person on Monday, per NorthJersey.com.
Two weeks ago, prior to head coach Brian Daboll’s hiring, a source told The News that Daboll intended to hire Martindale if he landed the Giants job and the DC position opened.
The Giants tried to retain Pat Graham from Joe Judge’s staff initially, but Graham wanted out after seeing Judge’s firing and the Giants’ transition up close the last few weeks.
So Graham left to become Josh McDaniels’ defensive coordinator with the Raiders.
The Giants virtually interviewed Martindale, former Bears DC Sean Desai, former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz and Wilks in their search to replace Graham.
Now Martindale, 58, and Wilks, 52, at least, are getting up-close looks in person. Both have interviewed for Giants head coaching vacancies before.
Wilks, then the Panthers’ defensive coor- dinator, interviewed in Jan. 2018 for the Giants head coaching vacancy that went to Pat Shurmur. And Martindale, a Ravens assistant since 2012, interviewed in Jan. 2020 for the head coaching vacancy that went to Judge.
Martindale flustered opposing offenses for most of the past four years as the Ravens’ defensive coordinator, playing an in-your-face scheme before his surprise firing this January.
His Baltimore defense had the sixth-highest blitz rate in the league this season (31.1%). The Ravens ranked second, third and second in points allowed in his first three seasons as DC, respectively.
But they slipped to 19th this season, decimated by injuries, with one year remaining on Martindale’s contract through 2022. The two sides reportedly couldn’t agree to a one-year contract extension through 2023.
Wilks coached in college this season, serving as Missouri’s defensive coordinator in 2021, after one year as the Cardinals’ head coach (2018) and one year as the Browns’ defensive coordinator (2019). This is the final Giants coordinator vacancy remaining. Daboll tabbed Chiefs QBs coach Mike Kafka as his offensive coordinator, and he retained Thomas McGaughey as special-teams coordinator on a third straight staff.
BRINGING IN THE SCOTTISH HAMMER
Giants GM Joe Schoen signed two more former Bills practice-squad players to Giants reserve/future contracts on Monday: quarterback Davis Webb and punter Jamie Gillan.
Webb, 27, was the Giants’ 2017 third-round pick under GM Jerry Reese. The Giants cut him in Sept. 2018. Then he spent one year with the Jets and three with the Bills. He’s appeared in one NFL game and hasn’t yet thrown a pass.
Gillan, 24, nicknamed The Scottish Hammer, was the Browns’ punter for most of the past three years before his December release. He promptly signed to Buffalo’s practice squad.
Schoen was the Bills’ assistant GM before the Giants hired him to run their roster. All three of his signings so far have been former Bills practice squad guys, starting with running back Antonio Williams on Jan. 27.