The NFL typically recycles present staffs on the teaching circuit when jobs come open. However generally there are NFL coaches in faculty poised to roar again into the professionals.
That’s precisely what Wink Martindale is after Michigan’s 19-13 bowl sport smothering of Alabama this week.
The previous Baltimore Ravens and Giants defensive coordinator flexed his pedigree down the stretch of the Wolverines’ season, shutting out Ohio State’s offense within the second half of a 13-10 upset at The ‘Shoe before holding Alabama to three second-half points to end the year with a bang.
Young Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore and Martindale strengthened belief in the Michigan program’s continued progress in Ann Arbor with a formidable three-game profitable streak to complete 8-5 total — regardless of shedding tons of gamers to the NFL from the earlier yr’s nationwide championship crew beneath Jim Harbaugh.
However NFL staffs flip over yearly at a excessive fee. Martindale coached three high defenses in Baltimore and the one Giants playoff protection within the final eight years. And there are a number of groups in want of the schematic benefit and defensive mindset that Martindale has introduced wherever he has coached.
The Colts, Jaguars, Bears, Raiders, Cowboys, Jets and Browns all stand out as franchises which have or may make head teaching or coordinator modifications the place Martindale may increase the prevailing program. The Giants would qualify, too, besides he already left New York voluntarily to flee the toxicity and return to a profitable tradition, which he discovered and helped keep at Michigan.
Martindale then put his stamp on the Wolverines by teaching the nation’s Eleventh-ranked protection by yards allowed (307 per sport), the fourth-ranked protection by rush yards allowed (90.7) and the Nineteenth-ranked protection by factors allowed (19.9) — whereas the Wolverines’ rebuilding offense cycled by quarterbacks and completed 129th within the nation in yards (286.2) and 113th in factors (22.0).
The Wolverines’ protection was led by PFF Prime 100 NFL Draft prospects DT Mason Graham (No. 3), CB Will Johnson (No. 6), DT Kenneth Grant (No. 22) and edge Josaiah Stewart (No. 94). They even held playoff-bound Indiana to fifteen factors in a five-point street loss.
Nonetheless, none of these high Michigan prospects performed within the bowl sport, whereas Alabama trotted out most of its beginning offense. And Martindale’s protection nonetheless clamped down on Jalen Milroe and the Crimson Tide.
Martindale was a preferred candidate on final yr’s NFL interview circuit after leaving the Giants, talking with the Jaguars, Packers and Rams earlier than touchdown in faculty.
Now, anticipate him once more to be a coveted NFL coordinator that Michigan could must work to retain.
Vic Fangio’s work with the Philadelphia Eagles’ protection, in any case, is a current instance of how monumental of an affect a veteran coordinator can have on a protection, a roster and a crew.
Initially Revealed: January 3, 2025 at 12:41 PM EST
