“He’s The Perfect Man For The Job”, Seems The Jaguars Have Gotten Their Man As The New DC

 Wink Martindale

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ regular-season collapse in the second half resulted in the dismissal of defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell by head coach Doug Pederson. The Jaguars seem to have shifted their attention to their next target after other NFL teams denied their demands for interviews.

Although it didn’t have a major issue in the latter part of the season, Jacksonville’s defense declined after playing like a top-10 team throughout the first half of the season. The opponents of the Jaguars averaged roughly 350 yards per game and a 42 percent third-down conversion percentage in their final seven games.

• Jacksonville Jaguars defense stats 2023: 5.4 yards per play allowed (20th), 32.3% scoring rate allowed (10th), 22.6% pressure rate (12th), 89.8 QB rating allowed (17th), 6.1% sack rate (26th)

But the Jaguars’ initial efforts to appoint a top defensive coordinator were unsuccessful. Jacksonville requested interviews with defensive play-caller Ryan Nielsen of the Atlanta Falcons and defensive coordinator Ejiro Everon of the Carolina Panthers, but both requests were turned down.

Former New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is one of the players the Jaguars are most interested in, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, and the team has scheduled an interview with him now that their best alternatives are no longer available.

Martindale’s departure from New York isn’t going well. After learning that Giants head coach Brian Daboll had fired two of Martindale’s assistants, he became enraged and launched an expletives-filled outburst on Black Monday. He and Daboll had fought during the regular season.

The 60-year-old defensive coordinator is well-liked by players throughout the league and is generally thought of as a good play-caller, despite his problems in New York. Even though Martindale wasn’t a part of the Giants defense, that was mainly due to the team’s lack of talent overall.

2024 might see a significant shift in the Jaguars’ defense if Martindale is given the reins in Jacksonville. The team had the ninth-highest NFL blitz rate (30%) the previous season. The Giants’ defense posted a 45.4 percent blitz rate in 2023 and a 40 percent blitz rate in 2022, indicating that Martindale is significantly more aggressive.

Martindale is the kind of defensive coordinator who can turn pressures into sacks for a Jaguars unit that had trouble doing so the previous season. Furthermore, the players’ perception of him as a very aggressive defensive coordinator may help to rebuild locker room trust in Jacksonville’s defense the following season.