Getty Don Martindale looks on during a Ravens game.
The Baltimore Ravens were looking at the potential of major staff changes this offseason, but all of that is now put on hold.
Even in spite of rumored interest, the market was tepid at best for Baltimore coordinators and coaches on the hiring circuit. While the team itself might be happy to hang on to their key staff members, the situation didn’t sit well with some in the media, and that was true in the case of Peter Schrager of the NFL Network.
Schrager recently went off on the lack of interest in Don ‘Wink’ Martindale on Good Morning Football, saying he couldn’t understand why more teams didn’t want to at least speak with Martindale about their coaching jobs and learn more about him.
Schrager said:
“I think it is absolutely absurd that Don ‘Wink’ Martindale, the 57 year-old defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens, sat by his phone this entire week waiting, wondering and maybe even laughing over the fact that with seven different coaching vacancies in the NFL he did not even get asked to interview by a single team. We got hot-shot 30 year-old offensive coordinators, we got former coaches that has one shot, two shots sometimes three get interviews. Position coaches from teams with losing records had interviews. But Wink, his phone didn’t ring once. Not this week, not last week. Not a single head coaching interview. Why would a team want to interview a 57 year-old, and a guy with long hair and a guy with a defensive background. I don’t know, maybe he’s a guy who’s players swear by him, who’s players want to run through a wall for. I get it, the NFL is all about what’s young and sexy and flashy and offense. What about defense? Remember when defense mattered? Defense once was cool and won championships. The Ravens defense this year was only getting better.”
This season, Baltimore’s defense did improve enough for the Ravens to make not only a run to the postseason, but win a game while there for the first time in Lamar Jackson’s tenure. Without Martindale’s defense, it’s likely the Ravens do not make a push to the postseason at all. In numerous weeks, the defense carried the team and managed to keep things afloat for the offense as they figured things out. Martindale also helped keep things together during a major COVID-19 outbreak on the team as well.
None of that mattered in the end to teams doing hiring, though, meaning Martindale will now stay. According to Schrager, this was a huge mistake by the rest of the teams in the league.
Ravens Poised to Keep Don Martindale
Now that jobs have been filled, Martindale is going to stay with the team. While it might not sit well with Schrager, it is likely to sit great with those in Baltimore considering Martindale’s abilities as a coach. Ravens players have already admitted that they would prefer if Martindale got passed over for jobs even though they loved him, and it appears that will happen again this season.
That’s great news for the Ravens, who will keep continuity on the defensive side of the staff. This offseason, linebackers coach Mike Macdonald has already left for the defensive coordinator job at Michigan, meaning the Ravens already have one spot to fill on the coaching staff. Keeping Martindale in the mix to help sort things out is quietly huge for the Ravens in 2021 and beyond.
Don Martindale Career Biography
After growing up in Ohio, Martindale started on the long path to the NFL in 1986 starting his career at Defiance College as the defensive coordinator. He had worked as a truck driver and caught a break when he got to work closely with Jack Harbaugh at Western Kentucky from 2000-2003. After that, Martindale got his big break into the NFL, and managed to work with the Oakland Raiders as a linebacker coach, then bounce to the Denver Broncos where he did the same thing before taking over as defensive coordinator in 2010. The Ravens hired him to coach linebackers in 2012, and he did that until he took over as defensive coordinator in 2018.
Martindale oversaw a Baltimore defense which was near the top of the league in several statistical categories last season and took the lead in helping their offense along to an impressive run of games. Along with offensive coordinator Greg Roman, Martindale formed a solid pairing for John Harbaugh which led to the Ravens being one of the best teams in the league most of last season.
Martindale was passed over for head coaching jobs last year as well, and remained with the Ravens for 2020. At 57, he’s has been a football lifer, and the next step is possibly becoming a head coach. It won’t happen this year for Martindale either, which is a big injustice to some who are paying attention.
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